


Eating For Two

by bukkunkun



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Action & Romance, Alien Biology, Alien Sex, Anal Plug, Canon Compliant, Don't Ask, Family Feels, Gratuitous Smut, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Kinda, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Monsters, Mpreg, Organized Crime, Porn With Plot, Post-Canon, Pseudoscience, Rimming, Rough Sex, Shameless Smut, Team as Family, Tongue-in-cheek, but not really because i am a grad student in biology no joke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-08-27 03:14:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 57,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16694380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bukkunkun/pseuds/bukkunkun
Summary: Eddie Brock loves Venom.Venom loves Eddie Brock.Symbiote biology is plastic, evolving quicker than most species, and it has evolved to involve a human host in a happy, mutual relationship.Symbrock, and the consequences of unplanned parenthood.(an entry for NaNoWriMo 2018.)





	1. heat

**Author's Note:**

> > LMFAOOOOO SO THAT QUICK ADJUSTMENT AM I RIGHT⚡️ “lemme see what that tongue do (nano 2018)”<https://t.co/m0qMJjVYdf>
>> 
>> — bukkun ⭕️ #EatingForTwo for nano 2018! (@trickscd) [6 November 2018](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1059780562360066048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> follow me shitposting about this NaNo project through this twitter moment!
> 
> so LMAO you would not believe that i dumped my original novel to write this gargantuan monster of monsterfucking instead for nanowrimo 2018. it's fucking insane. i don't know why i'm doing this but here we are. for the first time in five (5) years i'm diving into nano (mostly) unprepared again. let's see how far i can take this.
> 
> anyway i will deviate quite a bit from the comics, but there will be elements that i will borrow from them sometimes. please consider this a brand new adventure for our good boys venom and eddie. a new adventure with new friends and enemies to face. it's a good time, ~~i hope~~. 
> 
> anyway, wish me luck for nano! thanks for trying to read this anyway haha

“Is it _hot_ in here or what?” Eddie scratched at his cheek impatiently while Anne shot him a withering look. Beyond them, Dan accepted a badge with a huge smile on his face, and the blonde only managed to elbow him before the doctor looked over to them, positively _delighted._

Immediately Anne and Eddie shot him twin grins, Anne offering her boyfriend a thumbs-up before Dan turned away again, ushered to one side of the little auditorium stage to give way to another doctor to accept a badge after him.

“ _[Takashi Shirogane,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7601221)_ ” Said the announcer as Anne turned to look back at Eddie, concern on her face.

“What the hell do you mean?” She hissed quietly, “I’ve been _freezing_ my ass off this whole time and you’re here burning up?”

Eddie shrugged, itching again, and Anne’s exasperation melted into worry.

“Are you sick?” She asked, pressing her palm to his forehead, and Eddie shook his head, pulling away from her touch. “You’re burning up!”

“I swear, I’m not sick. I’m just hot.” Eddie bit out, and he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. “ _Jesus._ I told them I was taking the day off today.”

Anne pouted in thought, biting her lip. A little bit of her lipstick got onto her teeth, and somewhere in the back of Eddie’s head, he remembered a time when he would kiss her to lick it off out of habit, but something else pulled him back from his thoughts.

 **_Heat._ ** Oh, now _Venom_ was complaining. **_It’s so hot, Eddie._ **

“Maybe you’re overworking yourself.” Anne frowned, tapping her chin thoughtfully, her red nails a lovely match with her lipstick. “Whatever it is you’re doing these days, anyway.” She sighed, and looked over to where Dan and his other co-worker stood together, proudly displaying their new nameplates. “Would it be too much to ask Dan if you could get looked over, or at least get something like an analgesic…”

“Relax,” Eddie said gruffly, his head spinning. “I’m—okay.”

 **_Eddie._ ** Venom sounded insistent, and _god_ this felt way too familiar to the first time he had this Symbiote inside him.

“I’ll just go home.” He said, “Um, tell Dan he did a great job, and stuff.”

“Eddie,” Anne began, but Eddie managed a strained smile at her.

“Don’t worry, Anne. I’ll just sleep this off.”

**_We should feed. We hunger._ **

“Yeah, buddy.” Eddie muttered, and Anne cocked her head at him, her hair rolling over her shoulders smoothly. The man smiled at her awkwardly, shaking his head before giving her a small wave. “I’ll see you two later at dinner, maybe. If I’m feeling better.”

“I hope you do.” Anne sighed, “Dan wanted to share this with you, too.”

**_Dan’s nice._ **

“Yeah, he’s a nice guy like that.” Eddie wasn’t sure if he was replying to Venom or Anne, but it seemed to do the job, placating the blonde enough that she wouldn’t go chasing after him. Eddie gave her a mock salute, and tried his best not to stumble out of the venue, at least until he got to his motorbike.

Venom shot out of his hand to keep him steady as he nearly tripped over his bike, muffling a curse under his breath as he let Venom half-carry their body to straddle the seat properly.

 **_We are unsteady._ ** He noted, helpfully, and Eddie laughed derisively.

“I feel like we should at least get a Lyft or something.” He said, and he could feel Venom’s confusion in his head.

**_A lift?_ **

“No, a Lyft. Just hail a car to get us home or whatever.”

**_What about the bike?_ **

Since when did Venom start worrying about the domestics?

**_Since you came along._ **

“I didn’t mean for you to answer that.” Eddie mumbled, giving himself three tries to fumble with the keys of his bike before Venom gave up and did it for him. “Thanks, bud.”

**_We need to go home. Or eat something._ **

“I think I still have some tater tots in the fridge.” He revved the engine, and prayed to whatever deity that would listen that he would at least not crash before he got to his apartment.

**_No, we need flesh. Insides._ **

“I _said,_ we’d only do that for bad guys.” The bike began to move, and Eddie began to drive it along slowly. Better to be safe than sorry, even if he had a Symbiote right inside him.

**_Then find some._ **

“I can’t just _find_ one,” Eddie scoffed, and Venom let out a sound that was akin to a groan of protest. “Listen, Venom, we can’t just go picking people off the street—remember Drake and Riot? You really want to end up like those two?”

 **_But we are hungry._ ** Oh, now he was pulling the kicked puppy voice. Like _that_ ever worked.

“ _Fine,_ let’s at least go hit up a restaurant or something.” Eddie turned a corner, and he jumped at the sound of a scream. Inside him, Venom seemingly lit up, and without any warning, Venom revved the motorbike to go faster, heading right towards the source of the scream—a little alleyway right around a pair of garbage cans.

“ _Venom!_ ” Eddie hissed, but his protest died on his lips when his bike skidded to a halt to see three hulking, large men surrounding a positively terrified young woman.

**_Three. A full course meal, for once._ **

Eddie sighed exasperatedly, as the three thugs looked away from her to stalk towards them, their threats rolling unheard off his ears as he got off his bike reluctantly.

“Fine,” he said. “Mask!”

**_Copy._ **

Venom enveloped him, and the young woman gasped behind her fluffy mittens while the three men immediately looked _terrified._ Venom roared at them, his maw parted into a grin, and it was over before it even began.

Venom dove at the first man—the biggest, closest one—to immediately engulf him from his head down to halfway his torso, tearing him in half with a relieved hum as both of his arms shot out to the side to pin the other two through their solar plexus to the walls of the alleyway.

At the back of their mind, Eddie realised the girl was effectively _trapped,_ but he was pretty sure this sight was enough to keep her quiet about it. They saved her, anyway.

When the man’s bottom half dropped to the ground, Venom immediately dove for the two men speared by his arms, tucking into their insides with a relieved sort of delight that would have Eddie reeling, but now he was just used to it.

He didn’t really want to accept that he was _used to seeing people die,_ but living with Venom forced him to grow desensitized to most things. Venom, at least, was a clean eater, diving for the viscera first before the rest of the body until finally deeming himself done, sliding away from around Eddie with a pleased purr.

“Jeez,” Eddie winced, looking around at the blood in the alleyway, and then at the girl, who—to her credit—remained stock still in her place by the wall, only mildly shaking. He gave her a sheepish grin, and rubbed the back of his neck. “U-uh, hey. You okay?”

She only nodded, her platinum blonde hair up in pigtails bouncing with her movement, and he nodded.

“Nice. Okay. Um.” He gestured at his bike. “Seeya.”

“Wait—” She began, but Eddie was already on his bike, speeding away before her meek voice could reach him. She deflated at the sight of him leaving, and peered down at her hands, tightly gripping the strap of her purse. “Oh, Doctor Skirth… I hope your findings aren’t true…”

* * *

“It’s—”

**_Still—_ **

“So—”

**_Hot!_ **

Eddie found himself more often than not completing his Symbiote’s sentences when they were alone together, and despite the chilly November wind outside his apartment creeping in through his thin walls and ignoring his creaky, failing radiator, he felt more burnt up than ever. He peeled off his jackets—the outer winter coat Dan and Anne bought him a while back, and then his sweater, leaving only his shirt on, soaked through at the back with his sweat.

Groaning, he peeled his boots off his feet, kicking them off when they were mostly off, before making a beeline for his room, dropping himself onto the bed with a huff.

“What the hell’s goin’ on, Venom?” He mumbled into his pillows. “You better not be actually killing me.”

 ** _I don’t want to._** Venom huffed. **_Why would I want to do that to you, Eddie?_**

A small smile crossed Eddie’s face when he felt Venom slip into his hand, rumbling the way that they knew comforted Eddie—the way cats normally did. No doubt Venom saw that part in Eddie’s mind—his and Anne’s cat was a purring machine when it felt like being sweet, and now that he had Venom, a whole body purring machine, Eddie found himself missing the cat less.

The Symbiote bumped his head against Eddie’s affectionately, and the man sighed exasperatedly.

“We’re both overheated right now, Venom.” He deadpanned, and the alien grumbled. “Get off me,” he joked, “You’re hot as hell right now.”

 **_I don’t want to leave you._ ** Venom sounded… _desperate,_ for some reason.

“Relax, I couldn’t even get rid of you if I tried.”

**_But you have tried. And you succeeded._ **

Eddie paused at that, and finally lifted his head off his pillow to look at Venom, who wasn’t looking at him and instead at their joined hands. Inky black spaced between Eddie’s fingers in a perfect fit that seemingly simply belonged there, and he felt Venom squeeze his hand gingerly.

“It technically wasn’t me.” He said quietly, and Venom went still.

**_Yes, but you were glad, weren’t you._ **

There was no use lying to him.

“For a while, yeah.” He said, and he didn’t miss the way Venom deflated against him. “But I was happier when you came back to me.”

Oh, this was embarrassing to admit.

“ _Especially_ after I thought I lost you, when you said goodbye to me.”

Venom seemed to stop at that for a moment, and much to Eddie’s surprise, he leaned forward to bump his teeth over Eddie’s lips.

“What… what is that?” He asked.

 **_Anne’s head said kissing people meant you love them._ **Venom always sounded curt, even when he was being affectionate. Still, that admission sat heavily on Eddie’s chest—not in any odd, painful way, though.

This—it felt like a cat settling into its favourite spot under the sun, curling up comfortably before taking a leisurely nap.

“You love me.” He repeated, and it almost felt unfair that it was just him that felt embarrassed about this.

**_Yes._ **

Curt and straight to the point. Eddie felt like he was burning up with the embarrassment and the fever. Groaning, he buried his face in his hands, feeling his blush creeping down his neck and over his chest, and he just knew that Venom was looming over him, looking down at him with the curiosity of a little puppy.

**_Do you love us, Eddie?_ **

Living with Venom was still so _strange,_ so foreign and new, and for a good amount of time after he lost Anne had wanted her back. If you asked Eddie this question a month ago, Venom-less and broken after Anne left him, he would have laughed in your face.

But now, after all that he and Venom went through—after seeing Anne happy with Dan, and being their friend—

“Yeah,” He replied, and didn’t second guess it. “I love us.”

So much could change in such little time. There was no one else who Eddie trusted more than Venom, and he knew the same went the other way around.

**_I’m glad._ **

Venom leaned forward again to bump their foreheads together, and Eddie chuckled fondly, kissing him between his opalescent eyes. He almost didn’t notice Venom morphing into a torso in front of him—just the torso—until Venom pinned him down to the bed.

“Wh-we really doin’ this?” He asked breathlessly, though he really couldn’t ignore the fact that aside from the rest of his body, his dick was starting to heat up, standing up as his erection began to grow. “H-hey, um,”

**_We want it. I know you feel it._ **

“W-well, _yeah,_ but like—whoa!”

With a small huff, Venom tugged at Eddie’s jeans, grumbling at how hard they were to remove.

“Venom! Buddy! Hold on!”

**_We don’t like these pants._ **

“Yeah, well, Anne liked me in them—”

**_Dan, too._ **

“Yeah, and Da— _what?_ ”

 **_Take them off us._ ** Venom sounded like he was… _whining?_ Eddie couldn’t wrap his head around it, but by _god_ he was growing increasingly horny for some reason, and the heat under his skin was growing unbearable. With a frustrated groan, he waved Venom off himself to pull his pants down, the Symbiote wrapping around him like a hot, heavy second skin, and Eddie shivered at the feel of him.

Normally, this wouldn’t have turned him on—hell, he and Venom just _fed_ before this, but right now, he felt oversenstive. He felt needy, and oh so stupidly _horny,_ peeling off his skinny jeans with as much coordination as he would have when drunk.

Maybe he _was_ drunk. Maybe the fancy hors d'oeuvre at Dan and that Shirogane guy’s promotion party were spiked with something neither Venom nor his stomach agreed with.

Or, maybe, this declaration of love between them sparked something that would take maybe a few more weeks to admit.

I mean, _really,_ you don’t know a lot of people willing to love and fuck a literal _space monster_ inside them. At least not publicly.

Eddie knew better than to give the Internet the benefit of the doubt.

 **_We’re not a monster._ **Venom, of course, could hear what he was thinking.

“I know, babe. Just thinking.” Eddie muttered, finally kicking his jeans off with a relieved huff. “C’mon, shirt off.”

Venom slithered off his body with a reluctance of a pet kicked off its favourite perch, and Eddie couldn’t help but laugh deliriously as Venom eagerly helped him pull his shirt off. Left in his boxers, Eddie lay back as Venom slithered over him with a pleased little hiss, wrapping himself around him like a blanket as he laced their fingers together.

Romantic, Eddie thought, as Venom bumped his head against his temple for a moment before slithering around him, engulfing him in a heat that made his skin prickle with anticipation.

Notwithstanding the fact that Eddie had no idea what he was doing, he went for the most obvious thing to do, for starters. He reached down to reach for his boxers, when Venom pulled his hand along to wrap around his clothed dick, shooting sheer pleasure up his spine, making him jolt in alarm.

**_Was that uncomfortable?_ **

Sure, he asks if holding his dick was was weird, and not ask him if having sex with his Symbiote was weird.

 **_Nothing is weird about us._ ** Venom’s voice was a little kiss into his ear, a tongue curling around its helices, and Eddie shivered, his cock jerking against his and Venom’s hold on it. He felt a small spurt of precum leak out of him, and his blush deepened when he heard Venom hiss in his head. **_Oh, that was good._ **

“You, uh, ever had sex before?” Eddie managed past the slur of pleasure that he hadn’t felt in so _long._

When you were a depressed alcoholic for a few months, and then thrown into a topsy-turvy life where you have an alien living inside you that you fell in love with, you tended to neglect the fact you have a dick, at least until the dust settled, and all that was left was the aftermath to deal with.

The first day of the rest of their lives, the first day after the fiasco that was Life Foundation.

Venom and Eddie made the choice together to keep the fact that Venom was alive a secret from Anne, and now there was… _this._

Eddie didn’t know what to call _this,_ but he wasn’t about to complain, really.

 **_No._ ** Venom replied simply. **_In Anne’s head, you were supposed to do it with someone you loved very much._ **

Oh, once upon a time, those words would have broken Eddie’s heart and put it back together again. Now, all it did was fill it with fondness, and Eddie chuckled fondly.

“Damn, still a romantic after all this time, huh.” He shook his head, planting a kiss somewhere on Venom that he could reach, as he gently led Venom to unwrap his hand his hand from his dick. “C’mon, lemme at least get my boxers off…”

 **_Fine._ ** Venom huffed, and Eddie just _knew_ the Symbiote wanted to at least tear them off.

“Yeah, do that _after_ we at least make enough cash to buy ourselves new things.”

**_We use money to buy chocolate and tater tots._ **

“Money can be exchanged for other goods and services.” Eddie grunted, almost laughing at what he said as he finally managed to pull his boxers down, shivering as his overheated cock was exposed to the chilly air. “Shit, why are we both freezing and burning up at the same time?”

**_We don’t know. Doesn’t matter._ **

Venom slid down his body, wrapping an inky black tendril around his cock, and Eddie let out a shuddering gasp, stiffening up in the loose, reassuring hold that Venom had around him, cupped around his body like a comfortable black sleeve. He threw his head back against Venom’s form, gasping as Venom began to pump him without warning.

“S-shit, I—oh, my _god—_ ”

 **_Anne has taught me a lot of things._ ** Venom said, though his voice sounded so strained, as if also having a hard time keeping a hold of himself the same way Eddie was struggling to not cum.

Oh, it’d been so _long—_ he wasn’t going to last very long. It would’ve been embarrassing, but with how enamoured Venom was with him, he was sure the Symbiote wouldn’t mind anyway.

Not that he knew there was anything to be ashamed of climaxing early, that was a human construct—but well, now that he thought of it, he was sure Venom knew now.

All Eddie got in response was a rumbling chuckle and a whole-body purr that only pushed him ever closer to the edge, and Eddie stiffened up, arching against Venom’s body around him.

“ _Shit!_ ” he swore, “I’m so—I’m so close,”

**_Please, let us feel it. We want it, Eddie._ **

Oh, that pleading voice. That conqueror ordering him to take the leap over the edge, and as his beloved nation, all Eddie could do was follow.

With a small whine, Eddie came into Venom’s fist, staining black with white cum as he shuddered, before going boneless with pleasure.

“Oh, my god.” He panted. “Wow.”

**_Wow._ **

Even Venom sounded breathless. Eddie laughed weakly, rolling over to reach for the box of tissues on his bedside table, when suddenly Venom wrapped around him, making him gasp.

“H-hey, wait! Wh-what’s—”

Venom concentrated his form around Eddie’s crotch area, and the pieces slid into place. Eddie’s eyes widened, and he reached down to stop him—when he felt something _wet_ wrap around his cock.

“Oh, _god._ ” Eddie moaned, burying his face into his pillow as Venom lifted his hips, licking him clean with that long, dexterous tongue, and oh _fuck,_ he was wet all over. That long, slick tongue wrapped around his dick once, twice—and gave him a teasing tug, making his body jerk in response to the sound of Venom’s low, rumbling chuckle. “Fuck, Venom, this—we—”

 **_We feel so good._ ** Venom rumbled, purring around his body, around his dick. Eddie could only hold on tight to his pillow, oversensitive from his first orgasm but still oh so painfully hard at a sensation unlike anything he ever felt before.

This was _nothing_ like having sex with Anne, or with anyone else, really.

Let it be known that those weirdos on the Internet really _were_ onto something, after all.

Venom licked him clean, humming all the way through, and Eddie could feel the vibrations straight in his spine, tingling deliciously at the small of his back and leaving him boneless with pleasure. He lay slumped down in bed, upright only thanks to Venom holding him up, that he almost didn’t notice Venom forming hands and parting his asscheeks.

“H-huh?” He blinked, an odd sense of relaxation washing over him thanks to Venom’s ministrations, and the Symbiote looked down at him with a cocked head.

 **_Anne thought of something before._ ** He explained, no doubt feeling Eddie’s subdued panic. **_She called it eating ass._ **

“Oh, my _god._ ”

Venom dove down to slide his tongue between Eddie’s cheeks, and he let out a shout of alarm when he felt that wet, _wet_ tongue poke his hole with meek trepidation. He squirmed in Venom’s grip, shivering when he felt no give from the Symbiote’s hold. Oh, he was definitely trapped now, unable to move from not just Venom’s hold on him, but the anticipation—

The _want._

 **_Eddie?_ ** Even still, Venom was sweet. **_We want this, right?_ **

Eddie laughed softly into his pillow, before looking back at Venom over his shoulder.

“Hell yeah.” He replied.

**_Even with me?_ **

“ _Because_ it’s you.” Shit, that was cheesy, but the swell in their heart told him everything. Venom purred gleefully, and dove back in, sliding the tip of his tongue into him to tear a groan out of Eddie’s throat.

Yeah, it was weird, but by _god_ did weird feel so _good._

Venom could feel it too—the sweet, addicting pleasure that came with the sensation of that wet, slick tongue sliding into him smoother than butter or lube, and Eddie shivered, relishing the feel of Venom holding him down with his tendrils to the bed. He could struggle and squirm all he wanted, and there would be no give.

Not that he wanted Venom to—it felt good to be held down like this, especially when Venom technically had as much limbs as he wanted to—

“ _Fuck!_ ”

Venom’s tongue reached deep inside him to press _hard_ against his prostate, and his cock jerked in interest, swaying in the air as Eddie’s hips stuttered against Venom’s tongue.

**_That felt good._ **

“Do it again,” Eddie panted out their thoughts, and Venom obeyed, thrusting his tongue into Eddie, and the man’s spine went ramrod straight. “ _Yes!_ Like— _nngh—_ that.”

Venom nodded, and lifted Eddie’s hips higher to fuck his ass with his tongue easier. The helplessness of his position only made him impossibly harder at the feel of it, and all Eddie could do was lie there and take it, feeling Venom’s tongue plow into his ass and pressing against his prostate mercilessly.

Eddie felt like his breath was punched out of his lungs with every thrust into him. It felt like Venom️’s tongue pierced him right to his very core, and Eddie thought—in a brief, stunning moment of clarity—that he could get used to this.

Yeah, getting fucked by a Symbiote tongue? Definitely firmly in the top ten of his top tens.

For a moment, Venom’s teeth brushed against his skin, and it made Eddie let out an undignified _squeak_ that only made Venom’s warm feelings for him swell.

Oh, shit—yep, those weirdos on the Internet—Eddie should really trust them more.

He could feel his orgasm approaching, his cock swinging to the rhythm Venom set as he fucked his ass, but suddenly, the Symbiote stopped, and the heady haze of pleasure that clouded Eddie’s mind cleared.

“Wh—why’d you _stop?_ ” Now, it was _Eddie_ that was whining, but when he looked over his shoulder at Venom, his eyes widened to see a huge cock poking at his ass, and looming above him was Venom, peering at him with pleading eyes. “U-um.”

 **_Please._ ** He knew what they both wanted. Their heart beat as one, their mind united, and yet still Venom wanted to ask him. He wanted to make sure Eddie was okay with it too.

“Yeah.” He nodded, more to reassure him than anything else.

The both of them knew what the other wanted. They were so intimately connected, far deeper than any connection of the heart, or the body.

They were Venom—they were Eddie Brock, and there was something deeply moving about how in sync they were.

Philosophy aside, though, all those thoughts flew out of Eddie’s head when Venom slid home, his sizeable girth thinning out first to slide inside him— _deep_ inside him, before thickening up slowly again.

Venom gave him leeway, apparently. He knew it was Eddie’s first time taking a dick like this—why Anne hadn’t tried escaped his mind, with a sight like what he was seeing right now, his big cock sliding into Eddie’s hole like it belonged there, he didn’t know—and adjusted accordingly.

If Eddie forgot how to breathe when Venom ate him out, now he just _couldn’t._

“Oh, my god, oh my _god—_ ” later he would derisively berate himself on stellar, intellectual commentary, but for now all he could focus on was Venom, and the steadily growing pressure in his ass. Oh, he was _big._ He could be big.

He could go however Eddie wanted, and that should _not_ have been as hot as it was, but fuck it, he was already here, he might as well own it.

 **_Eddie, you’re tight._ ** Venom’s voice was strained, drowned by his pleased purring that reverberated through Eddie’s skin and deep into his bones. It was like there was a vibrator up in there with Venom’s dick, and it felt too much and too little all at the same time. **_Eddie, you feel so good._ **

“Y-you too,” Eddie panted, “V-Venom, hey, your—”

He didn’t know how to tell him to go thicker—fuck, he hasn’t even started _moving,_ but Venom knew anyway. His rumbling growl threatened to shatter into a roar as he grew considerably, stretching Eddie out and pressing _hard_ against his prostate, and he just _knew_ he was ruined for anyone else.

“ _Shit!_ ” He gasped, feeling that cock inside him grow, and god he felt so full, so achingly, deliciously _full._ A size queen, he didn’t think he would be, but there he was, impaled on alien dick and loving it.

A win, in everyone’s books, he thought.

**_I want to—we want to—_ **

“We wanna move,” Eddie panted, “Move, baby, c’mon—”

Venom finally let out that _roar_ he had been keeping pent up inside him, and Eddie shivered as he felt Venom’s torso pressed against his back, his huge hands pressing his own hands down into the bed as he mounted him fully. There was weight bearing down on him from his legs, to his back, and his hands, and Eddie felt trapped underneath him, helpless—

So lost in pleasure, as Venom rocked into him more powerfully than he had with his tongue, his dick pulling out only to the tip before sliding right back in again. The Symbiote growled lowly, thrusting with reckless abandon as their combined pleasure slowly built, Eddie’s cock bobbing underneath them angry red and leaking hard.

“Venom—Venom, we’re so close—a- _ahh—_ ”

**_We don’t need to be touched. We can finish like this._ **

“I don’t think I ca—c _aaan!_ ” Eddie’s words stuttered like marbles on glass, tumbling and jumping little bounds over a slippery, sliding surface, and with one last _slam_ of Venom’s cock against his prostate, Eddie suddenly came, catching him by surprise. Venom let out a bone-shaking roar, and buried himself deep inside him before spilling his own cum, searing heat painting his insides with a delicious warmth that Eddie had never felt before.

Oh, god, that felt like a lot. Venom let out a groan of protest, stuttering his hips into Eddie’s, and the man winced, reaching behind him to smack his side lightly.

**_Again._ **

“No, you idi—I can’t go again.” Eddie complained, and Venom huffed, uncoiling from around him and unsheathing himself with a little whimper of protest. His human chuckled, patting the Symbiote’s head gently as he slid back inside Eddie under his skin. “Right. What did you do to me?”

He unclenched his ass, and hissed at the sensation of hot cum sliding out of him, wincing as he pulled his hips off the bed to keep himself from soiling them.

“Oh, _fuck._ That’s a lot.”

 **_We came lots._ ** Now Venom knew what that was. Great. **_Felt great. Love you Eddie._ **

And apparently forgot how to speak in full sentences. Eddie shook his head fondly, and heaved himself out of bed.

He was glad the heat abated somehow—it wasn’t as blistering as before, but he knew that wasn’t just because he calmed down and the heating was working. There was still that fever, and he had to simply sweat it out.

His dick gave an interested twitch, but his body groaned in protest.

“Fine, I’ll sleep it off first.” He muttered, bitter to find out Venom was already asleep inside him. “ _After_ a bath.”

* * *

When Eddie woke up the sky outside was dark and his phone was ringing. He jolted awake, his hand darting out to answer it, and deflated at the sound of Anne and Dan’s voices.

“ _Hey, Eddie._ ” Dan greeted, “ _How you feelin’?_ ”

“I’m doing okay, I think.” Eddie blinked sleep out of his eyes, and peered at the digital clock on the bedside table. “6PM. Huh.”

“ _Yeah, we were wondering if you’re feeling okay enough to come to dinner with us._ ” Anne said, “ _Looks like all you needed was sleep, huh._ ”

And sex, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Y-yeah.” Eddie laughed slightly, running his hand through his hair. “I’ll, um, I’ll get over there.” He paused, “Where is _there?_ ”

Anne’s laughter was beautiful. It rang nicely with Dan’s.

“ _Red Lobster._ ”

“What, really?” Eddie huffed, “And here I was getting my suit ready.”

“ _You don’t have one._ ” He heard Anne blow him a raspberry.

“Well, I mean, Red Lobster? Really? Mister New Head of the Radiology Department?” Eddie rolled out of bed, sandwiching his phone between his ear and shoulder to stagger over to his closet to rummage through it. “That’s a craving if I’ve ever seen one.”

“ _That’s because you’re right._ ” Anne sounded exasperated. “ _I think you’re rubbing off on him, Eddie._ ”

“ _Well, we’re friends, aren’t we?_ ” Dan laughed, and Eddie laughed along with him.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a few. See you two soon.”

“ _See ya, Eddie._ ”

As soon as he hung up, he felt more than heard Venom’s rumbling growl through his body. He jumped, and felt Venom’s tendril run sensually up his side.

 ** _Again?_** Venom asked gingerly, and Eddie sighed exasperatedly as the Symbiote moved out of him to look at him pleadingly with those opalescent eyes of his. At that, Eddie laughed, and lightly batted Venom’s head aside.

“You are _not_ cute.”

**_Again, please._ **

“Hey, we’re heading out to dinner with Anne and Dan, okay? We can do that later when we get home.” He explained, pulling out a new pair of jeans and pulled them on. When he made a move to reach for a relatively clean shirt, Venom hissed, and made his hand move over to the other side of the closet to have him grab his leather jacket. Eddie raised an eyebrow at him, but took it out, and the v-neck shirt that Venom made him reach for beside it. “Are you… having us show off?”

**_So we look good tonight, Eddie._ **

Eddie couldn’t help but grin at that as he pulled his clothes on.

“Well, I mean, I _guess._ ”

**_Don’t make us wait._ **

The low-lying threat in Venom’s voice made Eddie shiver, and he jumped when he felt Venom’s tendril slide against his hole. “H-hey! Wait a sec!” He’d like to keep protesting, but that would make him a hypocrite—especially when his dick began to act all interested again, and he knew Venom could feel it too.

**_We want this hole filled. It’s so hot._ **

There was _something_ wrong with Venom, definitely. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Eddie wished he could see Dr. Skirth again, but regrets were left in the past, and there wasn’t much he could do about her death. He’d attended her funeral, met with her children and friends, colleagues—

“Hold on a minute.” He blinked, and hurried to his laptop, the boner straining against his jeans notwithstanding.

He was actually rather grateful he wore the tighter pair—yeah, it bore down on his dick like nobody’s business, but by damn did it do a good job at hiding the fact he had a boner.

**_Eddie._ **

Venom’s voice sounded low. Threatening. His dick gave a jolt of interest, and Eddie hissed. Shit, the pain was blending into pleasure. He’d better not get used to this.

“Wait, wait, wait…” He muttered, and unlocked it, quickly scanning through the folders of pictures he had on there—and swore. “Fuck. I forgot Anne was the one taking pictures for us.”

**_What are we looking for?_ **

He felt Venom’s tendril slide inside him smoothly again, and he shivered, collapsing against his desk. “S-shit! Venom, g-getting a little—um—”

**_We want to be joined together. Let us have this._ **

“I can’t run around with something like a dildo inside m— _ooh._ ”

God, Venom was getting _good_ at shutting him up, especially when his tendril, still so slim and so teasingly smooth inside him, pressed against his prostate, and Eddie struggled to keep himself upright.

**_Yes, we can. You’re so warm inside, Eddie._ **

Shit, Venom was _horny._ He hoped he could make it through this dinner without embarrassing himself.

“W-well, you c-can stay inside, I guess.” He mumbled, his cheeks beet red, and Venom let out a small cheer, much to his embarrassment. “But you can’t make me fucking _cum_ right there, okay? You’d better be patient, too.”

**_Yes, sir._ **

Oh, _fuck._

“S-say that again?”

 **_Come on, Eddie. They’re waiting for us._ ** There was a grin in Venom’s voice, and he almost wanted to punch himself in the face for it. Instead, that earned himself a little boop from his Symbiote on his nose, and a laugh escaped his lips.

This was his life now, he guessed. Walking around town, getting on a bike, with a dick in his ass.

Another Tuesday evening.

* * *

“Yeah, I mean, everyone saw my promotion coming, but no one saw Shiro’s coming.” Dan was saying, nodding against the rim of his bowl of clam chowder. “It was out of nowhere! Sorta. He’s a bit young to be running the Oncology department alone, but I’d seen what he’s made of. If there’s anyone everyone’s immensely proud of, it’s him.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve met him.” Anne nodded, before taking a sip of wine. “He’s a really sweet guy.”

“You into him?” Eddie quipped, and Anne blew him a raspberry. Dan laughed pleasantly, setting his empty bowl down to smack playfully at Eddie’s arm. “Oh, no, Dan! You’ve got competition!”

“Nah, Dr. Shiro’s gay as a rainbow.” Anne deadpanned, “Besides, Dan is just fine.”

Once upon a time, that would have dampened Eddie’s night completely, but he’d moved on now. He was happier as her friend, and even happier about the monster dick currently growing slightly inside him.

Oh, it was hard to keep a straight face through this whole thing. Venom vibrated like a toy whenever he started purring out of the blue, making the motorbike ride to the Red Lobster more awkward and far kinkier than it should have been. Vivid images of him riding Venom flashed through his mind after that, and the Symbiote almost went mad with lust and almost broke free of Eddie to fuck him in the alleyway before the both of them were spooked by a raccoon they disturbed when Eddie bumped into a garbage can.

That was before dinner began, but after Eddie got his hands on one of Anne’s order of crab legs, sucking it into his mouth, Venom grew listless.

Eddie had visibly _jumped_ when Venom suddenly expanded inside him, plugging him up like a toy would, and he covered up his surprise with a particularly hard suck that had him choking.

Anne and Dan had turned to him in concern, more worried about the choking than the dick inside his ass, and Eddie made a mental note to deny Venom of his chocolate the next time they did a desserts run.

 **_We wouldn’t,_ ** Venom had purred, and fucked into him once, pressing _hard_ against his prostate for the rest of the evening.

Was it uncomfortable? Absolutely.

Was it worth it? Hell fucking _yes._

Thank goodness Anne and Dan never noticed a thing, and it was probably by some small mercy that Venom did little else than that—plug him up for the rest of the evening, keeping him open and loose and _ready_ for that night when they came home.

 _If_ they even made it home, anyway.

“Yeah, see ya around!” Eddie gave them a wave before Anne rolled up her window, waving back at him. “Send the pictures over when you can, alright?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t forget.” Anne nodded, giving him a mock salute before the window rolled shut. Eddie watched them drive away, sweat pooling at the back of his neck in anticipation.

 **_We should go home now._ ** Venom was insistent, impatient—but Eddie can play at his game.

“I dunno, buddy,” he replied, “We’re a bit overheated. We should take a little walk.”

A little walk, he said, and the next thing he knew he was being pressed against an alleyway wall, cheek to grimy brickwork.

“Wh—”

**_We’re so horny, Eddie. We can’t hold back now._ **

Oh, it was hot—so, so _hot_ again, and Eddie only had a moment to breathe before Venom suddenly pulled down the back of his pants and his underwear, exposing Eddie’s ass to the cold air. Eddie let out a gasp before Venom started pounding into him again, materialising behind Eddie as a torso and pinning, powerful arms.

“A—aah, _ah, ah, ah—_ ” it was all too sudden, all too _good_ to hold his voice back, and Eddie couldn’t help but let out little gasps as Venom fucked into him with that raw, vicious power as he had earlier. Blood was rushing through his veins, pleasure and desire roared under his skin, rumbling along with the sound of Venom’s voice in his ears, their head.

**_Eddie—Eddie, so good, so good—_ **

Eddie gasped when Venom suddenly came inside him, dick swelling so sweetly _big_ that it tore a moan from Eddie’s throat, plugging him up nice and tightly.

**_We go home, now._ **

Venom fused back into Eddie under his leather jacket and pulled his jeans up to look decent. Eddie, cheeks ruddy and still oh so painfully hard, winced as he gathered himself together. It was Venom who made him walk forward, straddle the bike only to sit on Venom’s dick again, and Eddie bit back his moan when he felt Venom’s cum slosh inside him, and his cock push it impossibly further inward.

“V-Venom, babe, I-I can’t drive—”

**_Let me._ **

He felt Venom’s hands wrap around his, and he sighed, leaning back into the sensation of Venom wrapped around his back under his jacket, letting his Symbiote drive them the rest of the way home.

* * *

Getting back up to the apartment was a team effort, Venom and Eddie working together to lug their body upstairs and into their home. When the door shut behind them, Venom immediately pushed Eddie back against the door and the human kissed him, eagerly letting the tongue into his mouth while his hand, melding with Venom’s, went straight to his weeping, leaking dick.

Hissing, he palmed himself through the rough denim, and he buckled against Venom’s unyielding weight.

**_Open pants._ **

All Eddie could do was obey. He reached down with his other hand to undo his jeans button and zipper, moaning when the pressure let off his straining cock. Together, human and Symbiote pulled his erection out from its prison, and jerked himself off roughly.

“Ahh—I’m so close—I’m gonna—”

 **_We go together._ ** Venom squeezed his hand, the one wrapped around his dick, and Eddie came with a shout, painting the space between them white. Venom hissed, and thrust his cock—knotted and stuffed inside Eddie like a plug—shallowly into him once, twice—and came again.

“S-shit,” Eddie groaned, feeling his stomach bloat somewhat. “V-Venom, I’m so—we’re so full.”

 **_We want to be full._ ** Venom kissed his sweaty temple. **_We want to be this connected always._ **

“There’s… gotta,” Eddie panted, “There’s gotta be a way around this.”

He cupped his Venom’s head in his hand.

“B-buddy—babe, there’s something up with you.” He managed, but that was all he did when Venom slid his tongue into his mouth. Eddie shivered, shuddering as his spent cock gave a desperate little jerk, still interested—oh so _interested_ in Eddie getting fucked again within an inch of his life, but his stamina had something else to say about his libido. Venom slid his tongue down his throat, and he shivered, falling limp against his Symbiote for a moment before Venom pulled away when he felt that Eddie needed to breathe.

The man coughed for a moment, inhaling oxygen a little too quickly, but he raised his hands to shield his mouth when Venom made a move to slide inside again. “S-shit, Venom, I can’t. We can’t.”

Venom purred sadly, but relented, falling quiet, but that was all he did, dick still lodged firmly inside Eddie’s ass.

“Sorry, babe, if we keep going it’s gonna hurt.” He said to placate his Symbiote, and Venom whined. “That’s just how it is.”

 ** _Love Eddie. Never hurt Eddie._** Venom’s orgasm-induced eloquence strikes again, Eddie thought, but he chuckled fondly, turning to kiss whatever part of Venom he could reach. **_Sleepy?_**

“Yeah, let’s get to bed.” He replied, and made his way—stiffly—over to their room, wincing at the feel of Venom’s cum sloshing inside him. “Um, you gonna let me up or not?”

All he received was a tiny grunt of protest, and Eddie sighed.

“Fine, then. Guess I’ll just go to sleep or whatever.”

Venom didn’t reply—already fast asleep, the cheating bastard—and Eddie shook his head, only shucking off his jacket and kicking his boots off before dropping himself onto his bed.

He was out before he hit the pillow.

* * *

Eddie woke to the sound of something _slurping._

Belatedly he thought to himself he should really start getting used to waking up to alarms, but that thought immediately fled his mind when he realised there was that tongue wrapped around his dick _again,_ and the room was unbearably _hot_ —again.

“What the fuck,” he said intelligently, blinking to get the sleep out of his eyes. “I thought we were over this?”

Slowly he sat up to see Venom’s tongue wrapped around his morning wood—oh, hey, morning—jerking him off with a little whine that sent sparks of pleasure tingling in the small of Eddie’s back. _That_ certainly woke him up, jolting him upright as he unwittingly thrust up into Venom’s wet, warm and welcome grip with his tongue.

“ _Shit!_ ”

 **_Rise and shine, Eddie._ ** Venom greeted him like they were discussing the weather, and Eddie glowered down at him. **_We hunger._ **

“Not right now we don’t.” Eddie huffed, yanking Venom’s head off his dick, and the Symbiote whined in protest. “Listen, I’m not up for it. We have to figure out what’s up with us.”

**_Nothing’s wrong with us. Nothing wrong with this._ **

Venom jerked his dick— _still inside him, what the_ **_fuck_** —and Eddie let out a moan.

“D-didn’t mean that, babe.” He stammered, “I mean—we’ve been having this fever on and off. You’re—horny _all the time—_ ”

**_So are you. We are horny all the time._ **

Eddie’s cheeks turned red, and he shook his head. “That’s beside the point.”

**_That’s the entire point._ **

Eddie rolled his eyes, and got out of bed. “We need to see a doctor.” He deadpanned, and Venom huffed.

**_Dan?_ **

“No!” Eddie burst out, and sighed as he stepped through the doorway to head out into the living room. “No. Not Dan.”

 **_Doctor Skirth?_ **Venom asked, and Eddie deflated.

“Yeah… someone like her.” He said, and headed to his laptop, where he lit up to see that Anne had sent him an email. “Alright, let’s see here…”

He sat down, wincing at the _squelch_ Venom’s dick made inside him, before focusing on the message in front of him, ignoring the other ones from contacts and story sources. This was top priority.

**_What’s that?_ **

“I had Anne take some photos with us for Dr. Skirth’s funeral a while back.” He replied, clicking on the Google Drive link Anne provided him (“ _the files are too big, the DSLR hasn’t got anything on my iPhone, and you can’t deny that_ ”, she’d said) and impatiently tapped his fingers on his desk as he waited for the page to load. “I remembered something yesterday.”

**_The girl in the alleyway._ **

The cheat was reading his damn mind, because of course he was.

 **_We share the same mind, my love._ ** Now he was dropping the terms of endearment. **_It’s kind of hard not to hear what you’re thinking._ **

“Don’t sass me.” Eddie couldn’t help but smile into his hand, shaking his head as the page finally loaded. “Yeah, her. I thought she was familiar—20-something and still wearing pigtails? You’d never forget a face like that. Cute girl, but not really the type I’m into.”

**_You thought she was 16._ **

“Same difference.”

**_It’s really not._ **

Eddie rolled his eyes, and scrolled through the pictures. She was quick to find—the dark-skinned, doe-eyed platinum blonde in pigtails and a fluffy black dress standing behind Skirth’s children, holding her youngest by her shoulders. He frowned, and cocked his head at the photo.

“She’s not family, that’s for sure.” He muttered, “Too young to be buddies with her.”

**_Colleague?_ **

“Nah, our closer bet is student.” Eddie replied, “Seems like a weird coincidence we’d run into her yesterday.”

**_Maybe she’s looking for us._ **

Eddie’s eyes narrowed at the screen, at her sombre face.

“Now that’s just _suspicious._ ”

Venom hummed dismissively, and a tendril of his pushed his laptop shut. Eddie looked at the Symbiote witheringly while Venom leered at him.

**_Hungry._ **

“Horny.” Eddie deadpanned. He knew what Venom was thinking, feeling. There was really no way around it—there were no secrets between them, all sensations bared raw and unfiltered. He could feel it—the incessant tug of _heat_ and _desire_ that plagued Venom’s mind, and he couldn’t understand why.

On one part, he was definitely worried about him—a man cared for his body like a devotee does their temple of worship.

That, and he loved Venom as much as the Symbiote loved him. They only had each other in this life of sharing, of moments spent never alone, and he had to take care of him.

**_That too. We should feed._ **

“Yeah, that first.” Eddie nodded, and headed to the kitchenette, humming slightly as he rummaged through the cabinets, and then the freezer. “We’ve got some Eggos.”

**_Not nearly enough. Hungry. We want flesh._ **

Eddie frowned, and shook his head.

“Venom, we talked about this.”

**_But we’re so hungry. So, so hungry._ **

God, it felt like it was worse than the first day he had Venom. There was _something_ gnawing at his nerves, something dark and lurking under his skin like a squirming little worm, and Eddie shivered.

**_We feel it, the hunger. The heat. It’s so hot, Eddie._ **

It was like Venom was sick—stockpiling so much food, burning up. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, just that _something_ was wrong with him.

“Fuck, I should’ve listened to my college biology classes…” Eddie shook his head, and pulled out the box of Eggos anyway. Venom grumbled in protest, and he sighed. “Listen, we’re going to look for that pigtail chick and ask her what’s up with us. Over food. Happy?”

**_Marginally._ **

Good enough.

Eddie fell quiet as he prepared their breakfast, filling up his kettle with water after sliding in a pair of Eggos into the toaster. He peered into the box, and huffed in amusement to find one left. “Do we finish everything?”

**_Only if we’re going to pour chocolate on at least three._ **

“Well, aren’t we lucky.” Eddie chuckled, and made a move to bend down—

And immediately remembered his immediate problem, mainly, Venom’s dick still inside him. He winced at the feel of his hole, raw and oversensitive, stretched out by Venom’s cock still plugging him up tight, and it took Venom to still hold him upright.

“S-shit.” He hissed, and leaned on the kitchen counter for support. “Hey, I don’t suppose you can let up now?” He turned to see the Symbiote looking at him with concerned eyes. “Your plug, my ass. Your cum’s still inside me, sloshing around and it’s getting kinda gross to think about.”

 **_Fine._ ** Eddie could practically _hear_ the pout in Venom’s voice.

He could feel Venom’s cock receding, and then when the slow, steady start of the oncoming _gush_ followed, he immediately clenched up in alarm. Venom let out a pleased growl and subconsciously thrust into Eddie’s ass again, and he choked slightly, buckling over to collapse onto the kitchen counter.

**_Eddie, you said out._ **

“I-I _know_ what I said.” He stammered. “But then— _shit_ —we’d make a mess.”

**_Sounds fun._ **

Eddie smacked the Symbiote upside his head.

“Says the guy who does none of the cleaning.” He muttered darkly, and Venom meekly lowered his head. “I’m getting in the shower.”

Venom lit up, and nodded enthusiastically as they headed into the bathroom. Wincing, Eddie peeled his jeans off while Venom clumsily made some vain attempt at pulling their shirt off. When he’d managed to get rid of his jeans and underwear, Eddie reached up to easily tug his shirt off, hissing at the sensation of the cold air hitting his overheated skin.

“In, in,” He grumbled, hurrying barefoot over the cold tile flooring to step into the shower, sighing in relief as he turned the faucet and let hot water wash over him. “ _Damn._ ”

**_Can I pull out now, Eddie?_ **

Oh, right. Monster dick butt plug.

“Yeah, alright, out.”

Venom pulled out of him with a pleased hiss, and Eddie shuddered at the sensation of cum dripping out of him. The water washed it all away quickly enough, but Eddie could see just how much was inside him.

“That’s… a _lot._ ” He breathed. “More than the other day.”

 **_Came inside you twice._ ** Venom purred. **_Wanna come inside you more._ **

Eddie swallowed thickly.

Well, his morning wood hadn’t quite died down yet, and they _were_ in the shower—

**_Is that a yes?_ **

Oh, what the hell.

“Yeah, it’s a yes for me.”

**_Thank you, Eddie. Love you._ **

Now that he thought about it—he _did_ wonder what Venom’s cock looked like. Sure, it had been inside him a good amount of times, but Eddie never got to see it for himself. He knew it at least had the ability to change its shape, but surely it had a default shape it preferred to take?

One that could, possibly, fit inside Eddie’s mouth, for starters?

Venom pulled away from him suddenly, turning to look at him. Eddie shivered, panting slightly as he saw the Symbiote shudder for a moment, purring in approval as he became mostly corporeal again, a large, hulking creature that towered over Eddie.

Oh, so _this_ was what he looked like with Venom wrapped around him.

He was _huge._ He could only imagine what his cock looked like, and anticipation writhed in Eddie’s stomach.

**_I know what we’re thinking._ **

“Yeah, I’d always wondered what it looked like.” Eddie murmured, watching as Venom formed his lower half, distractedly getting down on his knees to meet his crotch at eye level evenly. “Didn’t look like this when we first had sex.”

Today, Venom’s cock was of a medium girth and length, something not too dissimilar to Eddie’s dick, now that he thought about it.

**_We know what we want. I will always be what you want._ **

Oh, the way that rumbled in Eddie’s head. His own dick gave an interested jerk as he reached out to wrap his hand around Venom’s cock, the Symbiote groaning in pleasure at the friction he so desperately needed. His hand buried itself in Eddie’s hair and pulled his head closer to his cock, which twitched in interest in Eddie’s loose grip.

The fever came back with a vengeance, and Eddie shivered as his own arousal grew unbearable. He could feel his hand around Venom’s cock like as if he had his own hand around his cock, and when he squeezed it, he felt it, hissing in perfect synchrony with Venom in pleasure.

**_Eddie, give it a taste. It tastes as good as you do._ **

Eddie could only nod dumbly, unsure why he found that so stupidly _hot,_ but he nodded despite the Symbiote’s hand on his head. He let Venom guide him closer, parting his lips to slide the head of his cock into his mouth. It sat heavily on his tongue, a hot weight that filled his mouth with a strange, musky flavour that Eddie found himself getting used to quickly.

In fact, if he thought about it a little more, he really, _really_ liked it.

 **_You have a cocksucker’s mouth, Eddie._ ** Venom purred, and Eddie jolted when Venom’s cock gave an interested quirk in his mouth, and it slid sinfully easily deeper inside him. On reflex he gave the cock inside his mouth a hard _suck,_ and immediately felt it on his own dick. A warm wet heat not unlike the feeling of a mouth around it, like Venom’s tongue jerking him off.

No, that sensation wasn’t just Venom, he realised. That was the _both_ of them, sharing in the feeling as Eddie sucked Venom off. He moaned around his dick when he felt Venom’s tendrils creeping over him, reaching down to slide into his ass. Thin, _hot_ tendrils that teased his fluttering entrance open, stretching him like his plug had since that morning. Venom hissed in pleasure as he gently fucked Eddie open, holding him up when his knees slipped over wet bathroom tiles, and Eddie nearly choked on the dick inside his mouth.

He felt it—the spasms his throat made around Venom’s cock, around _his own cock, what the_ **_fuck_ **—and nearly came, were it not for Venom suddenly wrapping a tendril around the base of his cock and squeezing tightly.

He pulled off Venom’s cock with an embarrassing whine, but he was too far gone in his pleasure to really care.

“Venom, buddy—please—”

 **_We wanna cum inside. We wanna cum together._ ** Eddie felt Venom lace his hand between his fingers, pulling him up onto his shaking feet, and let out a shuddering sigh when Venom drew his tongue under his chin, tickling his Adam’s apple. **_Eddie so good. Eddie, I love you._ **

“Love you too,” Eddie panted, and gasped when Venom slid home inside him again, his cock back to the size it was last night, stretching him wide and so, so _good._ “Venom!” he shouted, feeling the head of his Symbiote’s cock press hard against his prostate, and his spine went ramrod straight, collapsing against his shower stall’s moldy walls. “S-shit, babe, I—”

**_So good. Feels so good._ **

Venom thrust up into him, and Eddie’s cock bounced with the movement. All Eddie could do was hold on, grip ineffective against wet tiles as Venom fucked him against the wall, his moans coming out a stuttering “ah—ah—Ven— _ah, fuck, yes—_ ” as Venom plowed into him.

It was hot, so so hot, despite the water rushing over them.

“Venom—I’m close—we’re close—”

**_So close—_ **

Venom and Eddie felt their orgasms hit them at the same time, the sensation doubled as their experiences went overlapping one another, twin gasps and a roar rattling the walls of Eddie’s little apartment.

The water washed it all away, and Eddie winced when he felt Venom melt away from him, slipping under his skin to let his cum leak out of him with a contented sigh.

**_So good, Eddie. Love you._ **

Eddie laughed weakly, and leaned against the wall.

“Love you too.”

The scent of something burning suddenly caught his attention, and Eddie’s eyes widened.

“Fuck,” Eddie breathed. “The Eggos.”

He hurried out of his shower, uncaring if he was sopping wet or that he was buck naked, and made his way to the kitchen.

 _Ding,_ went the toaster, and two burnt waffles popped out.

Eddie looked at them witheringly.

**_At least the stove wasn’t lit?_ **

Yeah, he was _definitely_ depriving Venom of his chocolate at this week’s grocery run.  


	2. mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Venom get to work investigating the rest of Life Foundation's sins, and a little problem of their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > WE DID IT LADIES!! [#EatingForTwo](https://twitter.com/hashtag/EatingForTwo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) has officially won [#NaNoWriMo2018](https://twitter.com/hashtag/NaNoWriMo2018?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)! it is, my no means, done (i'm at uhhhhhh the antagonist faceoff) but!! we've done it lads here it is!! 50k certified by the official nano website!! Thanks for coming with me on this journey, everyone! [pic.twitter.com/gvVEEnuxZD](https://t.co/gvVEEnuxZD)
>> 
>> — bukkun #EatingForTwo NANO WIN!! (@trickscd) [27 November 2018](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1067264351453642752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> so i just won this year's nanowrimo with plenty of time to spare, and plenty of plot to keep going! i'm by no means done yet, but i thought i oughta post another chapter in celebration. thank you so much for the outpour of excitement and interest for this fic! i hope you enjoy the rest of what i have to offer!

**_Are we working?_ ** Venom’s voice echoed in his head, and Eddie rolled his eyes, waving at nothing around his head as he settled down in front of his laptop with a sigh, a mug of coffee in his hand and his phone in the other. **_At a time like this?_ **

“Don’t know what you mean, pal.” Eddie replied flatly, and Venom huffed.

**_We have a stalker. You said we would deal with her, over food._ **

“Later. I can deal with that later.” He said, and scrolled through his emails. “Mandrake got back to me yesterday at Dan’s promotion. It _had_ to have been important, if he messaged me during my day off.”

Venom grumbled, and settled for peering out from under his collar out at the laptop screen. **_Mandrake?_ **

“You remember him—John Mandrake? We met him while we went digging around for information on Life Foundation.” Eddie replied dismissively, gently pushing Venom’s head down from where he was almost blocking his view of the screen. “Let’s see… sister companies, stockholders…”

 **_Why are we still doing this?_ ** Venom asked, and Eddie shrugged.

“Don’t wanna leave this job undone.” He replied, “Besides, the operation was huge. I knew there would be no way Drake was makin’ all those crazy rockets by all the cash he was making on his own.”

Venom watched him type, a bored expression on his face.

“I asked Mandrake to get me a list of all the sister companies and other businesses Life Foundation got into, and here’s a nice long list for us to go through.” Eddie rubbed his hands together, and hummed. “ _After_ we sort this fever out.”

**_You’re convinced it’s just a fever?_ **

“I sure _hope_ it is.” Eddie replied, shaking his head exasperatedly. “Though I guess a talk with our little stalker would help us clear some things. For now, though, I’d better get through this list. Which sounds most suspicious to you?”

Venom gave them a cursory glance.

 **_All of them,_ ** he grumbled, and Eddie snickered.

“Figures.”

**_You were thinking the same, too._ **

“That I did.” He nodded, “I’m curious about one of them, though.” He tapped the screen with a small tut. “Belladonna Cosmetics.”

**_Make-up?_ **

“Thought it looked familiar. Anne used ‘em, I think.”

 **_That’s all we have._ ** Venom deadpanned. **_Just that little connection, and you’re diving into that immediately._ **

“Knew you were getting the hang of this journalism thing.” Eddie chuckled, kissing Venom’s head. “That’s not all, but we’re getting there.” He got up from his seat, and the Symbiote lit up.

**_Where are we going?_ **

“We’re going to get this fever sorted out while we wait for Mandrake to reply. I want to get right into this Belladonna business right away.”

* * *

Journalists chasing their targets to interview were one thing, natural and normal in nature like predators stalking their prey, but she knew that going against nature was going to be something a little harder than what she was used to.

Not that her master’s degree in biomedical engineering was going to help her in any way, but she wanted to remain positive.

Usually, when one reversed the flow—the prey looking for their predator—you were essentially undoing what science already knew.

Normal Tuesday evening—er.

The young woman checked her phone.

Normal Wednesday evening, for someone like her.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have worn the doll shoes today.” She frowned, stopping in front of a Chinese mart to look across the road. “You silly little idiot.”

Dora Skirth was once her guiding star in times like this. She had herself together, and she was a woman she looked up to in the field of science. She got so far as Life Foundation before she met her demise, and while she didn’t know exactly _what_ killed her, the gigabytes of data inside the hard drive she carried around in her purse with her at all times was certainly _why_ she was killed.

“Yeah, ditch the shoes.” A voice suddenly said next to her, and she jumped, whirling around to see her target himself—Eddie Brock—leaning on the wall next to her, looking bored, if a little flushed. “You know, when you’re chasing after someone, you should at least dress for it.”

“What do you mean?” She pouted, and Eddie gestured at her.

“The dress. The shoes. I could hear them from the drugstore a block ago.”

At that, the young woman looked sheepish, her cheeks darkening. “Yeah, that’s fair.” She sighed, and Eddie crossed his arms.

“Who are you?” He demanded. “Why are you looking for me?”

“Oh, um…” She looked sheepish. “My name is Mary Andrews. I… used to work for the Life Foundation.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes at her, and Mary jumped back, holding up her hands defensively.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I never actually made it to the Symbiote program, but—”

“What do you know about the Symbiotes?” Eddie asked, and Mary looked around nervously.

“Can we, uh… talk somewhere more private?” She asked sheepishly, and she blinked at Eddie when he looked like he was muttering to himself. “Um, Mister Brock?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” He nodded, barrelling past her. “I have something to ask of you, too.”

She blinked at him as he walked by, and he peered at her over his shoulder. “Um.”

“Yeah?” He bit out.

“You’re… limping.” She said, and Eddie muttered to himself again, before straightening up.

“Not anymore.” He replied, “C’mon. There’s a family restaurant nearby, kid. We can talk there over lunch.”

“I-I’m 23!” Mary stuttered, but hurried after him anyway.

* * *

**_Bad guy._ ** Venom rumbled in his head as they settled down in the booth across each other, and Eddie hushed him with a scowl. **_She poses a threat to us. Let’s feed on her._ **

“She’s so tiny, she’ll hardly be a meal, love.” He muttered, and Mary cocked her head at him. He shook his head, and said in a louder voice, “So, Andrews. Who are you?”

Mary looked nervous, but she nodded. “I used to be Dr. Skirth’s thesis advisee, back when I was taking my Master’s degree.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at her. “You have a _Master’s_ degree?”

She blushed, and nodded again. “Yeah.”

“You’re like, _12._ ”

“23.” She corrected him meekly, and continued. “I used to intern at Life Foundation to expand my CV for my PhD on her advice, and I worked with her team before they took on the Symbiote project. She sent me off the team when Mr. Drake ordered for them to start working on human test subjects.”

Eddie frowned, leaning back in his seat with a thoughtful hum. Well, at least she already knew the stuff that they kept from the public about the Symbiotes. The news reports went that they were testing some dangerous substance that they didn’t name, and while Eddie had wanted to report the whole thing, it was probably for the best that they kept the Symbiotes a secret. God knows what people would do if they found out one was still alive.

“I personally hadn’t seen them myself, the Symbiotes. But I figured that was how Dr. Skirth died.” Mary continued, rubbing her arm. “I can only hope that it didn’t hurt. Though I suppose the Symbiote would have been mad at her and the team for running tests on them.”

 **_The other Symbiotes…_ ** Venom said, **_Yes, we were angry. All of us. And me._ **

That was right—Venom was part of that project, alongside two other Symbiotes. Riot was somehow missing from their little group.

“How many were there?” Eddie asked, “The Symbiotes, I mean.”

Mary blinked at him. “Surely you’ve heard the whole story from Dr. Skirth?”

“I wanna hear it from you.” He replied. He wanted to make sure how genuine she was, though her presence at Skirth’s funeral was enough to tell him at least of her connection with the late scientist.

“W-well, um… there were four that were brought back here to Earth, but one had escaped and went missing.”

**_Riot._ **

Riot, right.

“I never found out what happened to it, actually…” She muttered, “But I did hear of news of a bunch of people dying in Malaysia and Hong Kong.”

“Yeah, they were by the Symbiote.” Eddie said, and she blinked at him. “I looked into it after the fact.” He finished off there, and offered no further explanation. Mary sighed, and nodded.

“I see.” She replied, lowering her head for a moment, and Eddie sighed.

“So why are you looking for me?” He asked, and Mary laughed nervously.

“Um, well… recently, Dr. Skirth’s kids gave me access to her accounts and I got a hold of her team’s findings.” She said. “They’d apparently discovered a lot about Symbiotes, and then I got worried for you, Mister Brock.”

“Me.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“I mean—what you have, essentially, is a parasite inside you—”

“ ** _Not a parasite,_** ” Venom snarled through Eddie’s lips, and the man rolled his eyes. “Listen—kid. It’s fine. We’re fine.”

“But—”

 ** _We eat her, now!_** Venom sounded _furious,_ and Eddie sighed.

“Hey, hey. I know. Did some scans at the hospital. Thought I was dying. But we’re okay now.” He held her arms, and squeezed them to ground her. “You can stop worrying, kid. Venom and I are fine.”

He paused, and remembered the heat. The horniness.

“Actually, _mostly._ Mostly fine.”

**_What do you mean, mostly? We love sex!_ **

That they did, and by _god_ they did, but Eddie needed to know.

The journalist in him _had_ to find out.

“Mostly fine.” Mary echoed, frowning. “That doesn’t sound great.”

“Yeah, no kiddin’.” Eddie buried his head in his hands. “Actually, that’s why I wanted to find you.”

Mary blinked at him, and her milkshake arrived alongside Eddie’s club sandwich. The server gave them a raised eyebrow, and she gave him an awkward smile before he walked away.

“Why did you want to find me?” She asked, gingerly taking a sip of her drink, and Eddie tried not to think that it made her look far younger than she already did.

**_Like a little girl, really. Do we like children?_ **

Interesting question, but one he would consider for another day.

“I wanted to ask if you knew something about Symbiotes and what’s up with them.” Eddie said instead, ignoring Venom’s rumbling displeasure in his head. “Recently, I’ve been getting fevers a lot, but I just…”

**_Go ahead, Eddie. Tell the little girl we have sex a lot._ **

Eddie paused, and winced. “I just end up sweating it out.”

“You don’t have allergies?” Mary asked, and he shook his head. “Um, any recent colds?”

“Nope.”

She pouted against her straw, smearing pink lipstick on the plastic. “I’m no doctor, but that doesn’t sound like any illness. Maybe it _is_ your Symbiote.”

“Venom.” Eddie replied, “His name is Venom.”

“Venom.” Mary nodded. “Hey, is it okay if I look you over?”

“What, like a check-up?”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded. “But I’m going to need your help getting to my clinic.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you mean?”

Mary gave him a withering smile. “And my consultation hours are at night.” She said.

**_Eddie, we don’t like this._ **

Not at all.

“We’re breaking into Life Foundation’s lab.”

* * *

“Wait! Mister Brock, please! You have to listen!”

He was out of the restaurant before she realised it.

It was a synonymous decision between him and Venom—in perfect sync, they got up from his seat and strode out of the restaurant, but not without leaving a five dollar bill and snatching up the sandwich. Mary jolted in alarm, but she had to stay and pay for the food, and that distraction was all they needed to walk away from her.

Never again to Life Foundation, that was his and Venom’s unspoken rule. Never again, to that awful place where Venom saw his brethren die, where Eddie watched Maria die—

Where Eddie first met Venom, in the place where nightmares slept.

He gained quite good ground away from Mary after that, her little doe-like voice carrying over the crowd just barely after he heard her running after him, and Eddie turned a corner into an alleyway as Venom slid out from under his shirt to look at him sternly.

**_We have to get out of here._ **

“Heard you the first time, babe.” He muttered, and Venom wrapped himself around him.

* * *

Mary turned the corner, panting as her shoes skipped over the pavement, and looked into an empty alleyway. She deflated, her shoulders slumping, and she squeezed her purse’s strap nervously.

“You can figure this out, you can figure this out,” She muttered to herself, shaking her head. “Fevers. Timing. Voracious appetite. Um.” She bounced on her heels in place, pressing the heels of her hands to her temples. “Think, think. Symbiotes are living beings too. Biology. C’mon, use that stupid degree you earned!”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

Fevers. Sweating it out. Heat.

Her eyes snapped open.

“Heat!” She gasped, “I’ve got it!”

She pulled out her phone from her purse, and began to type anew.

“I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” Mary muttered determinedly, “Mister Brock _has_ to know!”

* * *

“ _Jesus._ ” Eddie sighed, sitting down heavily at his beat-up sofa, grunting softly as Venom slid out from his arm. “Should’ve known.”

 **_We should’ve eaten her._ ** Venom agreed. **_Still hungry._ **

“Buddy,” Eddie shook his head, and lay down across the sofa, resting his head on the armrest. “We just ate three people yesterday. What’s _wrong_ with you?”

 **_We… don’t know._ ** Venom sounded… _frightened._ Eddie frowned deeply at that, and he spread his fingers to let Venom lace his tendrils between them, squeezing. **_Always feverish. Are we sick?_ **

“Andrews said it might be you.”

**_Not me. You don’t seriously believe her?_ **

Eddie frowned, and he rolled over to face the backrest, humming when he felt Venom wrap around his back, spooning him comfortably.

“Well…”

**_She’s a little girl._ **

“23.” Eddie chuckled. “Yeah. She did say she’s no doctor. Maybe we should go and actually ask a real one.”

**_Don’t like the hospital._ **

“Listen, it’s little miss Andrews or Actually-A-Doctor Dan.” Eddie cuddled against him with a contented sigh. “We know what it’s gonna be, babe.”

 **_Fine._ **Venom replied petulantly, and they fell quiet. Eddie felt himself slowly drifting to sleep, but he couldn’t help but smile when he felt Venom make a move to say something—and give up.

“What is it?” He mumbled into his arm.

**_Never mind._ **

He wanted to have sex again, he could feel it. There was that rising heat again, that incessant throb of _want_ and _need—_

But Venom was holding it back as best as he could. For Eddie’s sake.

“Thanks.” He said anyway, and Venom purred affectionately. “Love you.”

**_I love you too, Eddie._ **

* * *

****Eddie woke up with a yawn, and finally, he actually felt rested for the first time in ages. He realised Venom was still wrapped around him, snoring softly, and that put a smile on his face. He rolled off the couch, wincing at the crick in his neck that protested his movement, but he made his way over to his laptop, humming as he looked over his messages.

New assignments, things to edit and go over—

“Mandrake still hasn’t gotten back to me, huh.” He muttered, peering into his coffee cup to find it empty. He shook his head and picked it up, taking one step over to the sink when he heard his phone vibrate on the table next to his laptop. He turned back to pick it up, lighting up when he saw _‘John Mandrake - Life Foundation Probe’_ calling him.

“Hey, what’ve you got for me?”

“ _Good afternoon, Mr. Brock._ ” Mandrake paused, and huffed softly. “ _Sorry, evening. Hope I’m not interrupting dinner or something._ ”

“Nah, you’re good.” He replied, settling down in front of his laptop again with a heavy sigh. “What’ve you got for me about Belladonna?”

“ _Well, it’s been a stakeholder for Life Foundation for a while. They benefited from some research details that I haven’t exactly been privy to, but if you have a contact from someone who worked there, maybe they could help?_ ”

Eddie winced. Mary Andrews.

“Yeah, I think I have someone.” He replied, “Look her up, Mary Andrews.”

There was a moment’s pause, and Eddie tapped his table, bouncing his leg nervously as he waited. Soon, Mandrake spoke up again.

“ _Oh, she’s cute._ ”

“Little creepy how fast that was.” Eddie replied, shaking his head. “She’s 12, leave her alone.”

“ _23\. And you’re not her dad, Mister Brock._ ” Mandrake scoffed. “ _Anyway, I’ll go look up her employee records to get her number._ ”

“Mandrake.”

“ _It’s for you, jeez. Besides, this is probably her work number and I’m not a creep. I’ll ask her for it myself, for me, Mary’s Dad._ ”

“You goddamn weirdo.” Eddie rolled his eyes. “Anything else?”

“ _Right. I got you some passes to a marketing event by Belladonna Cosmetics tomorrow. Owner’s gonna be there, so if you want an interview, I say you go for it._ ” Mandrake paused, “ _Excluding the cameras, I mean. Not exactly Network business, but you know._ ”

“Yeah, I think I’m free tomorrow.” Eddie looked at the calendar on his laptop, and sighed. Guess they’ll have to put off seeing Dan for another day. Maybe he and Venom could get an Advil in the meantime. “Is that a suit and tie thing?”

“ _Unfortunately._ ” Mandrake replied. “ _Don’t suppose you have a suit or something?_ ”

Eddie thought about Venom, and laughed wryly. “I think I can whip something up.”

“ _Cool. You might wanna bring a plus one with you, though. There’s two tickets, and frankly I think it’d be weird if a guy like you showed up at a cosmetics event alone._ ”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m a journalist. There is no way they’d hold this event without media coverage.”

“ _You’re an investigative journalist._ ” Mandrake sounded exasperated, and Eddie frowned. “ _It’s not exactly the same. You don’t see CNN news anchors showing up at a marketing event for Maybelline._ ” He deadpanned. “ _If you’re doing this discreetly, I suggest you bring someone along._ ”

The journalist scowled. “I’ll see what I can do.” Maybe Anne was free. She liked Belladonna’s stuff, anyway.

“ _And I’m gonna go look for this Mary chick for you. I’ll text you her number when I find it._ ”

“Thanks.” Eddie stretched with a wince, and rolled his shoulders to hear his joints pop. “Is that everything for today?”

“ _For Belladonna Cosmetics, anyway. Wanna keep going on to the other companies on the list?_ ”

Eddie considered his list for a moment, and huffed.

“Nah.” He replied. “Thanks, Mandrake.”

“ _No problem, Mr. Brock._ ” Mandrake replied, and hung up. Eddie ran his hand down his face, sighing deeply, and peered at his laptop screen between his fingers with a forlorn expression.

Well, he had work to do, and Venom was still asleep—he was going to stay up all night at that rate, but Eddie didn’t mind.

In the meantime, he supposed, it was time to work.

* * *

It took her a while, but she figured it out. She would’ve liked to say that it was thanks to some level of sleuthing skill she wished she had, but all Mary really had to do was ask the right person.

It was embarrassing, actually, walking into random shops along the line of that Chinese mart she first met Eddie at—familiar with the area, probably lives nearby—asking for a certain Eddie Brock until she got a decent amount of directions.

But even then, inept as she was at finding people, she was bound to run into problems.

“Ah, go down the street, turn right and you can’t miss it.”

She most absolutely will, Mary thought bitterly, turning down a corner to find a row of identical buildings, and she wanted to jump off a bridge.

Still, she _had_ to show Eddie the hard drive, at least. Heaven knows how well he was managing _one_ Symbiote, without knowing a single _thing_ about it?

_Subject 3 is young. Possibly similar to a young human adult, around their mid-twenties. It is not as large as the other two, weighing—_

Subject 3, bonded to a certain Maria, no-last-name-given. That _had_ to be Venom—Subject 1 died mid-test and she was sure Subject 2 wasn’t Venom— _something_ needed to have killed Skirth, and she had a feeling it wasn’t Venom who could have done it.

 _He’s a good guy,_ somewhere in the back of her mind said, _To have lasted this long in a man like Eddie Brock._

She trusted her old mentor’s methods. She knew Eddie was a trustworthy man, when she saw that Skirth had contacted him about Life Foundation shortly before she died.

Mary knew she could trust Eddie Brock—the catch, instead, was to let Eddie Brock know he could also trust her.

She peered up into the windows of the apartments, wincing when she heard loud electric guitar coming from the one not too far above her head. Cocking her head, Mary looked up at the window, and squinted when she heard banging.

“Oof,” She winced, “That’s what you get for being so noisy this time of the n—”

“ ** _We told you to shut up._** ”

Mary fell quiet. She knew that voice. She’d heard it before.

 _“_ ** _Not a parasite_** _,”_ hissed the last living Symbiote on Earth, a few hours ago at her, across his club sandwich and her milkshake.

“Venom!” She gasped, and made a move to go inside the building—

When suddenly an inky black appendage slammed into the pavement in front of her, blocking her way.

“Wh—” she jumped away from it, her heart leaping into her throat, and immediately darted away, heading into the alleyway next to the building to see Eddie’s motorbike there. Mary could only take a moment to breathe, when suddenly a huge, black hulking creature jumped down heavily from the window above her. She opened her mouth to scream, when it wrapped a tendril around her mouth, wrapping around the back of her head under her pigtails before coming back around to effectively shut her up.

She let out a muffled shout, gasping when she saw a pair of opalescent eyes above hundreds of sharp teeth looming over her.

So this was what a bonded Symbiote looked like.

 _Marvellous,_ Drake’s voice said in her head, and she hated it.

“ ** _You again._** ” Venom hissed. “ ** _Didn’t we make it clear for you to fuck off?_** ”

If she could have a moment to explain herself, that would be _wonderful._

“ ** _We don’t trust Life Foundation. It hurt us._** ” His grip on her head tightened, and Mary whimpered in pain. “ ** _You will hurt us._** ”

Mary squeezed her eyes shut. Step one, already a failure. She’d tried—oh _god_ did she try—but it really was all for moot, in the end.

He was going to eat her. Well, it’d been a nice life, somewhat. Oh, she’ll never even get to play _Kingdom Hearts 3—_

“ ** _We would hurt you—we could._** ” Much to her surprise, Venom let her go, and Mary crumbled to the ground, panting shakily, trembling in terror as she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to calm herself down.

Her teeth were chattering. Her heart pounded out of her ears. She couldn’t breathe—was this what Skirth felt before she died?

She didn’t want to die.

“ ** _But we won’t._** ” Venom’s hand rested on her head, and for a moment Mary forgot how to breathe. He simply let it rest there, and she looked up at him, wide-eyed and almost ready to cry. “ ** _Eddie’s asleep. He would get mad if I killed you._** ”

It sounded so _domestic,_ and for a moment, Mary thought she was going insane. She laughed nervously, trying to get up onto her feet, but nerves kept her knees and ankles useless.

“ ** _I have questions for you._** ” He said, and much to her surprise, picked her up to sling over his shoulder. Mary let out a shout of protest, and Venom ignored her. “ ** _We’re going home._** ”

As Venom carried her up to Eddie’s apartment, Mary realised that the Symbiote was warm. Feverish, really, and she finally calmed down enough to look at him properly as he set her down on Eddie’s beat-up couch. Mary took a look around the apartment—at the yellowing, cracking walls, the messy coffee table. The kitchen at the side, and an abandoned, fallen carton of Eggos next to the toaster. She could spy into Eddie’s messy room from where she sat, and was almost relieved to realise the bathroom door was closed.

“I thought it’d be fancier.” She said intelligently, and much to her surprise, Venom let out a barking laugh. “I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just—I thought—”

“ **_t’s not much, but this is home._** ” Venom settled down in front of her on his haunches, and looked into her face. “ ** _We are fine. We are happy._** ”

Mary deflated slightly, but smiled.

“Yeah, I can see that now.” She said, and jumped when Venom got up onto his feet again to stride across the living room. “U-um, Mister Venom—”

“ ** _Little girl._** ” He said, cutting her off, and she pursed her lips. “ ** _What’s wrong with me?_** ”

His tone was oddly soft, almost _sad,_ even, and it came as a surprise to her. Mary’s eyes widened, ignoring the fact he just called her a little girl in favour of processing what she just heard.

Venom sounded so _frightened._ Like he was as lost as she was about all this. Gingerly she rubbed her arm as he came to a stop in front of the window, and his shoulders slumped.

“ ** _Am I killing Eddie?_** ”

Oh, she thought. He loved him.

“You… don’t know?” She asked, and he sighed.

“ ** _We weren’t made to bond with humans._** ” Venom turned to look at her. “ ** _We are a first._** ”

We, in two different contexts. Mary felt like she was missing out on much more context in that little sentence alone, but she let it be. Everything, she would learn about in time.

Skirth taught her that.

“Yeah, that makes sense…” She muttered, shaking her head. “You see, that’s what I wanted to talk to Mister Brock about.” Mary gingerly pulled out the hard drive from her purse, and Venom turned to look at her, cocking his head. “My adviser—Dr. Skirth, her team discovered how Symbiotes worked with their hosts, at least here on Earth.” She looked around nervously. “Does he have a laptop?”

“ ** _Here._** ” Venom jerked his head at her to follow him, and they headed into his room to pick up a moderately new laptop. Mary carried it with her to the living room to boot it up, and she pouted at the locked screen.

“Any chance you know the password?” She asked, and she jumped when Venom leaned over her, his claws melting away to reveal Eddie’s hands, and they typed the password down before the blackness swarmed over Eddie’s hands again. “…Wow.” She breathed, and in the back of her mind, Drake’s voice rang again.

_What a beautiful design._

She shook her head to clear it, and plugged the hard drive in. Hand shaking slightly, she copied the folder of Skirth’s data on the desktop, and while the files began to transfer, she looked up at Venom.

“Hey, um. Mister Venom—”

“ ** _Why do you call us that?_** ” Venom asked, and Mary stopped herself. “ ** _Mister Venom. It’s so weird._** ”

“Um, okay.” She tried again. “Venom?” He nodded, and for a moment, Mary was reminded of a nodding orca when he did. She giggled slightly, finally able to relax, and sat back against the backrest of the couch. “When you said Mister Brock was asleep, is he really asleep?”

“ ** _Yes._** ” Venom replied, and opened his maw grotesquely wide, unravelling around his body to reveal Eddie inside him, fast asleep, snoring. Mary gaped at the sight of him, as Venom went back to his previous shape, curling around Eddie like a warm blanket. She turned back to the laptop, breathing shallowly. “ ** _You’re scared._** ”

“A little, yeah.” No use lying to him. “That’s… you _ate_ him?”

“ ** _No._** ” Venom sounded frustrated. “ ** _We are bonded. This is how we are._** ”

Mary blinked at him, and nodded slowly. “Okay. That’s… huh.”

Venom leered at her, and she kept her gaze on the screen, away from the _teeth_ that were so close to her. “ ** _A one in a million connection._** ”

“I-I’d imagine.” Mary replied shakily, and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that the transfer was done. “D-done! Okay, this is mostly for Mister Brock,” She nodded, and looked back at Venom. “The long and short of it, though, is that I think you’re in heat.”

Venom blinked at her. “ ** _Heat._** ” He echoed, and Mary nodded. “ ** _What’s that?_** ”

“It’s—complicated.” She said, and shook her head. “Don’t you think Mister Brock deserves to hear it, too?”

Venom fell quiet, and Mary looked at him warily.

“Venom?”

“ ** _Tell me first._** ” He said, “ ** _Then I—_** ” He stopped himself, and Mary deflated.

“Oh, you really love him.” She breathed, and he whipped his head around to look at her. She rubbed her arm awkwardly, and shrugged helplessly as she set the laptop down on the space on the sofa next to her. “I think I understand. You want to know first, so you can protect him.”

Venom turned away from her, scoffing. “ ** _Nosy._** ” He said. “ ** _He’s waking up. We might as well talk about this in the morning._** ”

“R-right.” Mary nodded. “Um, I’ll, uh—”

“ ** _Stay here._** ” Venom put his hand heavily down on her head, and she squeaked as he pushed her down to lie down on the couch. “ ** _We’ll talk about this in the morning._** ”

“O-okay.” She said in a tiny voice, and Venom stalked into Eddie’s room. Gently he shut the door behind him, and lay down in bed, melting away in time for Eddie to groan softly, turning over to look at him with bleary eyes.

 **_Hello, my love._ ** He rumbled softly, cuddling close to him to lull him back to sleep. Eddie smiled softly, kissing whatever part of Venom he could reach, and Venom hesitated for that brief moment he felt _something_ stirring inside them.

There was that sinking feeling that they _knew_ what it was, they just didn’t want to accept it.

“Hey,” Eddie mumbled into his pillow, against Venom’s form. “Thought you’d be staying up ridiculously late.”

No, Eddie just fell asleep early, for once, and Venom was going to let him have his rest.

“Mm, love you too.” Eddie hummed, because of course he would know. Venom knew he appreciated it. “What’s up?”

**_Nothing. Go to sleep._ **

“Mm, okay.” Eddie quickly slipped back to sleep, hugging Venom close to himself. “G’night.”

**_Goodnight._ **

Venom watched Eddie fall back asleep, and sighed softly.

He loved him dearly, that was for certain. There was something creeping underneath their skin, something so familiar and yet so different. He knew it had something to do with the fact that he was bonded with a human—their biology was far different, and Symbiotes were nothing but the masters of adaptation.

This was all new, but somehow, Venom knew where this was going.

Mary Andrews—he hoped she would say what he hoped she would.

Not again, he thought. Not again.

* * *

Eddie had to stop waking up to things that _weren’t_ his alarm clock. For starters, the scent of coffee.

 _That_ jolted him awake. He didn’t have an automatic coffee maker, and there was a noticeable absence by his side, and an even more conspicuous line of inky black stretching from his feet and out his door.

Was Venom making coffee for him? Awfully domestic, if he said so himself.

**_No, but I’m learning to, if you wanted it that way._ **

“Alright, what the _fuck._ ” Eddie rolled out of bed, belatedly realising it was 8:30 in the morning, according to his beat-up clock on his bedside table. He hurried out of his room, feeling Venom coil back into him to find Mary standing at his relatively cleaner kitchen, humming as she stood by the coffee maker. “What the _hell_ are you doing here, Andrews?” He snapped, tension shooting up his spine in alarm, but the young woman shrugged, and pointed at the Symbiote hanging over her head, watching her work.

“He let me in.” She explained simply, and turned the coffee machine off. “Black or with cream, Mister Brock?”

“Wh— _why?_ ” Eddie winced when he felt Venom rumble in his head. “Venom, what did we do last night?”

 **_I had something to ask of her, and she has something to show us._ ** Venom replied. **_I was worried, Eddie. I had to know._ **

“Know what?”

Mary poured him a mug of coffee, frowning slightly. “I don’t know what you and Venom are having a domestic about right now, but I’d like to get a word in edgewise, anyway.” She also poured herself a mug, and dropped three sugar cubes into it. “I have something important to show you. It’s on your laptop.”

“How’d you get access to that?” Eddie looked at her warily as he picked his laptop up from where it sat on the couch to sit down with it at the kitchen counter across Mary. He unlocked it to find a new folder on the desktop—one labelled ‘ _SYMBIOSIS PROJECT - SKIRTH_ ’, and opened it.

“Venom helped me.”

Eddie could glare at the Symbiote, if he could, but Venom had completely disappeared inside him again.

**_I’m sorry._ **

He sighed, and looked through the files. Most of it were excel sheets labelled with odds and ends that he couldn’t understand—figures. Inexperienced as she was, he should’ve expected that Mary would have ended up giving him raw data instead of just condensing the whole thing for his sake.

“This is all Greek to me.” He scowled, and Mary looked sheepish.

“R-right. Sorry.” She went over to his side to find a folder—‘ _mr brock_ ’, read the name—and scrolled through a few files with several ‘FINAL FINAL FINAL’s in the filenames before she finally found a PowerPoint presentation simply named ‘ _Specimen 3_ ’. She opened it up to let Eddie see that it had graphs and pictures on it, and he frowned as she turned the laptop to face him again.

“After I got a hold of Dr. Skirth’s data, I went and consolidated it into figures so I could understand them better. They learned a surprising amount about Symbiotes in the time they had them.”

“That’s not a long time.” Eddie raised an eyebrow at her, and Mary laughed bitterly.

“Well, we had an unlimited budget, and some of the country’s brightest minds working for us.” She said. “Mister Drake knew so much about the Symbiotes by the time the whole thing at Life Foundation went down. I’m honestly surprised he hadn’t made an anti-Symbiote weapon in time.”

“Okay.” Eddie replied slowly. “So, what was so important that you had to show me?”

“R-right.” Mary ducked her head. “You have your own Symbiote inside you—”

“Venom, yeah. I know you saw us the day we saved you in that alleyway, but you couldn’t have known I had one. No one should’ve known, especially after Drake’s rocket crashed.”

 _Especially_ after the fact that not even Anne and Dan, the two people he trusted with his _life,_ knew Venom was still alive.

“So how did you know?”

Mary paused, and looked sheepish.

“I, um, looked through Dr. Skirth’s messages.” She replied, “You were messaging her because of the symptoms that showed up after you first bonded with Venom, right? I’m sorry for the slur, but there’s a reason why we thought Symbiotes were initially parasites.”

Venom bristled, and Eddie hushed him gently. She looked for a slide that had a graph that had a scattering of fluorescent-coloured dots that sharply collected on one side of the graph.

“What. Is this.” Eddie said flatly, and Mary cleared her throat.

“Flow cytometry results of extracted blood from human testing. There was a flood of eosinophil activation following the initial fever hosts had after bonding with a Symbiote.” She explained. Eddie inspected the graph, and noted it was for a certain Subject 3.

**_Subject 3. That was what they called me._ **

This was Venom’s data.

“English, please.” Eddie rubbed his temples. “What does that mean?”

“Well, you know that fever you got after you got Venom inside you?” Mary asked, and he nodded. “That was your body’s reaction to a foreign being entering you. It’s your immune system kicking in, and eosinophils are your body’s response to endoparasites.” She explained, and Eddie’s brow creased further. “Again, sorry for the slur.”

**_Offense taken and rebuffed._ **

Eddie looked at her wryly. “And? So what? Venom and I got over it.”

“Yeah, I figured, but the thing is, they discovered that Symbiotes have this amazing capability to adapt to any host they inhabit. They have an extremely plastic physiology, they can adapt to any organism they mutualise with.” It looked like she had stars in her eyes, and for a moment, Eddie thought he saw himself in her eyes.

Back when he was younger, more naive about the world, wholly, irrevocably in love with Anne and never happier with the direction his life went.

 **_I would have loved to meet you when you were like that._ ** Venom said quietly, and Eddie huffed fondly.

Would you have preferred the me now or the me then, he thought, and Venom purred against his skin.

 **_I would have loved you either way._ ** He said, **_Because it’s you, however way you were._ **

Mary stopped mid-sentence, and she cocked her head at them.

“Are you guys okay?” She asked, and Eddie realised he had spaced out from her talk to speak with Venom, and he looked down to realise their hands had laced in each other’s. He huffed fondly, and he shook his head, waving at her dismissively.

“Sorry, spaced out for a sec. Jeez, kid, you talk like a science teacher.”

Mary flushed slightly, and rubbed her arm. “Um, that was the plan, eventually.” She said meekly, and Eddie blinked at her. She shook her head, and continued. “Anyway, as I was saying, Symbiotes, if bonded successfully with their host, would adapt almost instantly to integrate their host’s physiology with their own to form a mutually benefiting relationship.”

Eddie blinked at her. She laughed weakly, and shook her head.

“In English, that means they can mix their body functions with yours and vice versa, provided you were a suitable host.”

“Oh.” Eddie frowned, and nodded. “So, that means that I shouldn’t be having problems with Venom, right? If we could mix our bodies together no problem, why are we having problems now? Why the fevers, again?”

“That’s why I wanted to look you over.” Mary sighed. “I’m sorry I made the both of you freak out, mentioning Life Foundation like that.” She rubbed her arm. “I don’t know where else to go. I doubt there would be any other place that could have all the equipment I need to look you over in the same place.” She pouted, “My favourite gene expression analyser was there, too.”

Eddie frowned, and leaned forward to lace his fingers together under his chin. He looked at her carefully, and Mary looked back at him, wide-eyed.

“Mister Brock?”

“Tell me what you think, Andrews.” He said. “My Symbiote is scared out of our mind—”

 **_Eddie._ ** Venom said threateningly, though he knew he meant nothing harmful of it.

“Worried night and day for us, because of something neither of us understand.” He continued. “What do you think?”

Mary hesitated, and opened her mouth to speak—

When Eddie’s phone rang. The man swore under his breath, shaking his head as he whirled around to glare at the offensive little thing. He looked back at Mary, who only stood there, stock still and fearfully looking back at him, and he huffed in annoyance.

“Could you—” he made a vague gesture at the kitchen, “Sorry, breakfast? I have to take this.”

“R-right.” She nodded, and got to looking through the fridge and the cabinets. Sighing in exhaustion—it’s only 9:15 in the damn morning, and already he was exhausted, god _damn_ —he got up from his seat to get his phone from where it was screaming on the sofa. He blinked down at the screen, and never wanted to punch Mandrake for his impeccable timing more than that moment.

**_More than the time he texted you on your day off?_ **

“This is about us, babe.” He muttered, “Specifically, you. Of course any interruption is gonna piss me off.” He swiped at his phone, annoyed, and held it to his ear. “This better be good.”

“ _Good morning to you too, Mister Brock._ ” Mandrake deadpanned. “ _I’m at your door._ ”

“What the—what _for?_ ” He stammered, but he hurried across his apartment, passing a confused Mary as she was busying herself with making two omelettes, to throw the door open. Outside a frowning brown-eyed brunet young man with freckles dotting his youthful face stood with his phone at his ear as well, hanging up when Eddie saw him. Hanging from one of the young man’s hands was a clothes bag with _Belladonna Cosmetics_ printed on the front, and Eddie raised an eyebrow at it. “Mandrake. What the _hell._ ”

“Sorry, had to drop these by before work. They arrived at my office last night at like, the minute before I left, so.” He pulled out a large manila envelope from his messenger bag, and paused. “Do I smell omelettes?”

“I’m making breakfast, you ass.” Eddie scowled, blocking Mandrake’s view into his apartment to keep him from seeing Mary, taking the envelope from him. “You done?”

“Oh, right. I looked up Mary Andrews’s number too.” He replied, “Ran out of phone battery last night and got so hammered that I just forgot to text you about it.” He handed him a folded card instead, and grinned wryly. “I don’t suppose you have an Advil with you right now?”

“I’d ask you to go buy me one, actually.” Eddie replied flatly. “Okay, scram. My eggs are gonna burn.”

“Fine, fine.” Mandrake checked his watch, “You’d better hurry, though. Marketing event starts at 10:30. I’ll send the directions to your phone, but please take a taxi. You’ll mess up the suit.”

“The… suit.” Eddie echoed, and Mandrake shook the bag he held pointedly.

“It was dropped by along with the tickets.” He said, and Eddie narrowed his eyes at it, but he took it anyway. “Tellin’ you right now, you’d better clean up a little. Luckily black fits on anyone, but you never know.”

“Right.” Eddie huffed. “Why the suit, though?”

“Well, I told them you were dropping by—”

“ _You told them I was coming._ ”

“If you’d let me finish, Mister Brock,” Mandrake cut him off, his words clipped. “I said you were coming with a plus one, not on official Network business.” He said. “You might ask some things, but that’s part of the journalist charm, they said.”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed at him. “They said.” He echoed.

“The owner, Lotus. Sent the package themselves.” Mandrake bounced on his heels. “Sorry, can I continue this some other time? I’m trying to catch a train and not get my ass grilled by my boss?”

“Right, right.” Eddie waved him off, “Get going, kid.”

Mandrake gave him a salute, and hurried off. Eddie turned back into his apartment, sighing as he looked at the envelope and the bagged suit. Mary turned around from where she finished cooking to cock her head at him, and her eyes widened at the sight of the bag in his hands.

“Oh, Belladonna Cosmetics!” She gasped, “I use some of their lipsticks.”

“You and literally every woman I’ve ever met,” Eddie muttered. Not that there was a lot, mind, but he really couldn’t help but be petty. Mary hurried over to his side to take the bag from him, and Eddie dropped himself on the couch with a sigh as Venom slid out from under his shirt to watch Mary unzip the bag and inspect the suit inside.

“Hmm, a little plain,” she commented, pulling the bag off to reveal a crisp black suit, and Venom hummed in interest. “But I guess it’ll do.”

“ ** _It looks nothing like what we normally wear._** ” He said, and Mary giggled.

“Yeah, I bet.” She replied, “Mister Brock doesn’t look like the fancy type.”

“I can be fancy,” Eddie said petulantly, and Venom and Mary looked at him. The young woman was smiling mischievously, and he could feel the swell of affection from his Symbiote bleeding into his own chest, putting a smile on his face. “Venom, what is it?”

“ ** _Can we wear this, Eddie?_** ” He asked, and Mary lit up.

“Yeah! I bet Mister Brock would look great.” She paused, and giggled. “After a bath, maybe.”

“Don’t be rude, kid.” Eddie shot back, but there was little venom in his voice. “Breakfast done yet?”

“Yes, _Dad._ ” Mary rolled her eyes, and Eddie could hear Venom’s laughter in his head. “I made cheese omelettes. There’s literally nothing else in your fridge.”

**_I like her. She takes care of us._ **

Eddie rolled his eyes. “We can’t keep her here forever.” He said, and Mary cocked her head at him. He shook his head, heading back over to her at the kitchen counter, and settled down with their food. Mary sat down too, quietly nibbling on her own omelette, and watched as Eddie pulled out the tickets and invite from inside Mandrake’s manila envelope.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Tickets to a marketing event.” Eddie replied, and she hummed.

“Belladonna Cosmetics?” She asked, and he nodded. “I remember doing research for them once.”

Huh. Eddie cocked his head at her, and she mirrored him.

“About that.” He sighed. “I don’t suppose I could talk to you about that? After this?”

“Sure.” She shrugged. “Not like the non-disclosure policy still holds.”

Eddie grinned at that, and took a sip of his coffee. A little less strong than how he usually had it, but Mary could make a decent cup, regardless.

“You break the rules too, huh.” He said, and she giggled into her mug.

“Screw capitalism, and all that.” She replied. “So, you gotta head out and do some work today or something?”

Not exactly, he thought. With the event at 10:30, there really was no way he could ask Anne to come with him, but he had to bring along _someone._

 **_A woman,_ ** Venom supplied. **_You know, there’s one right there._ **

Eddie blinked, and then looked at Mary, who cocked her head at him.

“Hey, kid.” he said, and she pouted.

“I’m 23, Mister Brock.”

“Andrews.” He amended. “You, uh. Wanna go somewhere fancy?”

She blinked at him, and realisation finally clicked. She smiled slowly, and shrugged. “Only if we pass by my apartment first so I can change into something appropriate.”

Eddie looked at her—she was still in that violet dress she was wearing since yesterday, and he frowned. “Isn’t that dress okay enough?”

She huffed, and rolled her eyes.

“Mister Brock, you really _are_ a hobo.” She deadpanned. “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Ignoring his protests, Mary ushered him off his seat— _“Jesus, kid, I’m not done eating yet!”_ —and bundled him into the bathroom.

“Clean yourself up first!” She said, sing-song. “And _then_ you can get dressed properly. I’ll even help you out!”

She slammed the door shut, and Venom slid out of Eddie’s shirt to look at him.

**_Please tell me we’re not actually letting her help us get dressed._ **

Eddie ran his hand down his face.

“We won’t.” He said, shaking his head as he looked at himself in the mirror. “Christ. All this for a stinkin’ interview.” he muttered darkly. “This better be worth it.”

He reached up to pull his hoodie off, and belatedly realised that they completely forgot to ask her about what she was going to say before Mandrake showed up. Sighing exasperatedly, Eddie shook his head.

Later, he thought. They’ll figure everything out later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sweats im like. THIS CLOSE to ending the fic tho oh boy!! i wonder if i can hit 60k lmao but im not really aiming _that_ high
> 
> also, for anyone who’s curious for some reason, Mary Andrews looks like Kashima from Kantai Collection ~~shUT UP I KNOW I KNOW~~ and John Mandrake looks like Connor Detroit: Become Human ~~I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW PLEASE THIS IS EMBARRASSING LEAVE ME ALONE SKFJSKDJD~~


	3. belladonna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belladonna Cosmetics is suspicious, but frankly, Venom's fixation on families is even more suspicious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY PALS do you like my writing? [check out this link](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1070534056368996352) to uh. control my content. iykwim.
>
>> am I horny? absolutely
>> 
>> — bukkun ARSENEFUCKER69 JOKER FOR SMASH (@trickscd) [7 December 2018](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1070919811201347584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> ya like porn? here you go pals have fun
> 
> for real tho thank you so much for the support so far!! i'm _still_ not done ksljdslkdj but!! i've hit 60k.... so. that's interesting.

After breakfast, Mary fussed over Eddie until she deemed him ready, leaving him alone only long enough to let him put his suit on by himself before getting all over him again.

“God, kid. What’s all this?” He sighed, as Mary combed his hair again for the third time. “What’re you so excited for?”

“I’ve just—I’ve never dressed someone up before.” She admitted, backing away from him with a soft smile on her face. “There. You’re actually really handsome, Mister Brock.”

 **_I agree._ **Venom said, and Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Don’t you have friends or something?” Eddie asked, “Or, I dunno, your dad? Never did this for your dad before?”

Mary paused at that, and for a long moment there was a pregnant silence between them. Eddie made a move to say something again, but she shook her head.

“No.” She simply replied, and stepped away from him. “I’m.” She bit her lip, and tried again. “I’m gonna get my stuff so we can head out in a few. I’ll pay for the fare to my place.”

Eddie watched her walk out of his room, and Venom slid out from his arm to look at him.

 **_She doesn’t have a father._ **He said, and Eddie frowned.

“We’re not going there, Venom.” He said, and got up.

* * *

The taxi ride was awkward to Mary’s apartment, but Eddie has to admit that her place, while smaller than his, was significantly neater. Not that he really minded as much, really, but there really was something about women and taking care of themselves and their homes.

 **_We could learn a thing or two._ **Venom mused, as Eddie settled down on the only armchair in the living room. A pillow in the shape of a fat grey tabby cat tumbled into his lap, and the man sighed.

“We’re not going there, Venom.” He repeated, and waited.

He took a look around her apartment, taking in little details of her life—there was a clock on her wall with a stained glass design on it, and her kitchen bled into the living room, separated by a little makeshift rack that had different bottles of half-finished wine on it. He huffed in amusement.

A winer at 23. Who’d have guessed. Maybe all scientists were like that.

She had one of those run-of-the-mill Black Friday sale TV’s up in what little space was the living room, some beanbags strewn around in front of the overstuffed armchair. Some game consoles sat under the TV, and a set of little sausage-like plush toys sat on top of each other like a pyramid on top of them.

“Interesting kid.” Eddie nodded in amusement. Venom hummed in agreement.

**_Still very much like a child, isn’t she?_ **

“From the looks of her kitchen, she’s a wine guzzler, pal.” He huffed. “ _Not_ a child.”

**_But mostly a child._ **

Eddie shrugged. Couldn’t argue with that.

He jumped when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and he raised an eyebrow when he saw that Mandrake had sent him a message. Curious, he opened up the email.

_Mr. Brock—_

_Found something interesting while I was digging up stuff on Miss Andrews. Turns out her master’s degree is in biomedical engineering, and she’s well on her way to some gene editing crap. I don’t know, I don’t understand a lick of it, but I’ve sent the docs to you if ever you manage to get a hold of her._

_She had some research done for Belladonna Cosmetics, but I think it’d be better for you to ask her about that, because I can’t understand jack shit of it._

_Another thing: there’s a terrorist group they call Atropine that’s being linked with Belladonna. They apparently prefer using bioweapons. I don’t like the implication of Andrews being involved, so that’s a no-date for me._

_I can’t look into this much further than that, though. I think this bit is your specialty._

_John Mandrake_

Eddie looked down at the email, and Venom hummed in his head.

 **_We don’t like this._ ** He said.

“Not at all.” He muttered, and looked at the folded card Mandrake gave him.

 _Mary Andrews,_ it read, and then her phone number and email. He looked suspiciously at her bedroom door—a baby purple, marked with pastel yellow stars—and saved her number and email.

This didn’t sound like good news. Nerves bundled at the back of his throat, and he knew Venom was antsy. He took a shaky breath, and locked his phone.

In the excitement of the feverish heat, of his new relationship with Venom and meeting Mary, he’d neglected asking her what her master’s degree was in, and what she did, exactly. All he knew was she used to be Skirth’s student, and that she was trying to take a look at Venom.

**_Eddie._ **

“I know,” he said quietly, “We’re suspicious. We’ll just have to be careful.”

Something uncomfortable sat in their gut, and Eddie frowned, fidgeting in place. That was all he managed, though, when Mary emerged from her room in an underbust corset dress as black as his suit on top of a white blouse. She was busy tying a deep violet ribbon at her throat as she emerged, her pigtails back to an impeccable shape, and Eddie raised an eyebrow at her.

A distraction from all the doubts in his head. Just what he needed.

“I suddenly feel a little underdressed.” He said. “Is that… uh, what do they call it—”

“Gothic Lolita.” She supplied before he could continue. “I’m surprised you know to call it something other than a costume.”

“I’ve dealt with all sorts of people.” He replied simply, and she smiled at that. He shrugged. “Is that considered formal wear?” He asked, as she stepped into a pair of black doll-style high heels.

“It better be,” She replied tartly. “Or I’m going to be _pissed._ ”

It was so _strange_ to see someone like her suddenly being aggressive, but Eddie stayed quiet while Mary picked up a clutch bag that matched her dress. She peered over at him, and blinked.

“Neckwear.” She said, and Eddie cocked his head at her. “I only just realised. You don’t have a necktie, or a bow tie.”

Eddie’s hand went up to his collar, suddenly self-conscious. “Uh.”

**_I can take care of that._ **

With a pleased hum, Venom slid out from under Eddie’s skin, and formed himself into a ribbon not unlike the one at the back of Mary’s dress, tails and all. The young woman giggled brightly as Eddie got up from his seat to look himself in the mirror to realise that Venom’s eyes were the design of the bow, and that there were tails on it. He huffed fondly, and poked at his Symbiote.

“No tails.” He said, “The ribbon’s different from Andrews’s.”

“That’s adorable.” Mary said fondly. “I like Venom a lot, Mister Brock. Must be convenient having a friend around all the time.”

At that, Eddie couldn’t help but smile.

“He gets annoying at times.” He said.

**_I love you too, Eddie._ **

“But yeah. I wouldn’t give him up for the world.”

Mary’s smile was warm. “That’s really nice.” She said quietly, and turned to the door. “Alright. Let’s go. I can’t wait to see what new stuff Belladonna has!”

Eddie looked down at Venom and looked up at him.

 **_We keep quiet for now?_ **Venom asked, and Eddie nodded.

“Hopefully Mandrake will have something for us about Belladonna soon.” He said.

**_For now, we let her have this._**

* * *

****Let her have this, Venom had said, and Eddie wondered what had Venom so affectionate towards her like that, even after Mandrake’s email about Atropine and Belladonna’s connection with Life Foundation to it. It didn’t help that Mary herself confirmed that she did research work for the company, but he supposed it would just have to clear itself up when they finally settled down to actually talk about it.

They had arrived thirty minutes late to the event, thanks to the traffic, but they were relieved to find that the main events had yet to begin. A flyer handed to Mary on their way in told them the main presentation wasn’t due until later after lunch, so the two settled for going around after a quick little lunch.

“I hope you don’t mind convenience store sandwiches,” Eddie said, offering Mary a lopsided grin as he approached her, waiting at the event hall’s entrance, their tickets in her hand. She gave him a warm smile, straightening up from where she was leaning against the wall.

“I don’t mind at all.” She shook her head, taking the sandwich from the man before giggling at the sight of Venom squinting at the sandwiches in displeasure. “A little less than what you’d like to have, Venom?”

 **_At least someone understands._ ** Venom grumbled, and Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Don’t you start taking sides now,” he told Mary, and the young woman laughed as she bit into her food. Eddie huffed and leaned against the wall next to her as they ate, and when she was done, she turned to look at him.

“You know, Mister Brock, I just realised.” She said, and he cocked his head at her. “You went into a convenience store in a suit.”

“Says you, running around town in Gothic Lolita all the damn time.” Eddie replied flatly, though there was little venom in his voice. She laughed behind her hand.

“Fair.” She nodded. “Just thought it was hilarious.”

Eddie couldn’t help but smile at that, and Venom rumbled fondly.

**_She’s a good person._ **

Eddie would have to agree.

* * *

While Eddie knew he wasn’t there for anything official, he at least hoped to get something done in his investigation aside from the basics he could just Google for later when he got home. Still, this was a matter of patience, and in the time he spent as a journalist, if there was one thing Eddie knew to do, it was to be patient.

Every case had its own pace. Every investigation, its own rate of exploration. For now, he was content to tail after Mary as she made her way through the booths with palpable excitement, her eyes sparkling with amazement as she looked at all the new products Belladonna had to offer. Makeup types of varying shades and styles—lipsticks that all looked the same to Eddie, mascara that were all the same _damn_ shade of black, if you asked him, palettes of colour that looked the same as any other palette he saw that Anne had.

It wasn’t really something he was interested in, but Eddie—and by extension, Venom—didn’t particularly hate being there.

Truth be told, Eddie had expected to at least catch a glimpse of the owner themselves—Lotus, as they preferred to be called—and he at least had a little huff of breath that barely classified as laughter at the thought of it.

Flowers, he thought. Lotus and the belladonna. This was a company of thematics at play, and they used it well.

“Ooh, look at this.” Mary said, picking up another lipstick, and Eddie realised it was the same one Anne used to use. “This one’s real fancy. It’s called—”

“Camellia.” He said, and she blinked at him.

“Yeah.” She nodded slowly. “You know about it?”

“Oh, uh…” Eddie scratched the back of his neck. “My, uh. Ex. She used to use this stuff too.”

“Oh.” Mary deflated slightly, but Eddie shook his head.

“Nah, it’s in the past. Besides, I’ve got Venom. Me and Anne—that’s her name, by the way—we’re still friends.”

Mary finally smiled at that, and Eddie mirrored it.

“I’m glad.” She said, and put the lipstick back. Eddie watched her browse, and realised she was pointedly avoiding it.

**_She’s doing it out of courtesy to you._ **

Eddie cocked his head, and then jumped when he saw a black tendril at the young woman’s neck, right on top of her choker, blending in enough to look inconspicuous.

“ _Venom,_ ” he hissed, and Venom shot back into his body in time for Mary to turn and look at him.

“Something wrong, Mister Brock?”

“N-nah.” He shook his head, and gestured onward. “Lead the way, little lady.”

Mary rolled her eyes. “Just because I’m a flat five-footer…” she muttered good-naturedly, and walked onward. Eddie shook his head, and followed after her.

“Did you look into her head?” Eddie muttered, and Venom hummed.

**_Had to make sure. She likes us a lot. Trustful._ **

Eddie frowned. That didn’t quite sound like someone who was in cahoots with Life Foundation, but he had learned not to take things at face value.

**_Eddie._ **

Eddie hummed in response, chuckling when Mary lit up, whirling around to look at Eddie, excitedly pointing at a little set of makeup that was themed around Pokémon.

“Aren’t they adorable?” She asked, and he nodded, humming fondly as she turned back to look at the box sets.

**_Do we like children?_ **

That question, again. Eddie cocked his head.

“You’re asking me that again.” He said, and he pursed his lips when a waiter passed by with another tray of finger food.

 **_I was wondering._ ** Venom said. **_Do we like Mary?_ **

Eddie paused at that, but he shook his head.

“The hell does _that_ mean, buddy?” He muttered. He came here to chase after Life Foundation and its sins. He was on an investigation, and he was there to also figure out what was wrong with Venom.

There was no time to be trying to figure out what was up with their only connection to _both_ investigations, and her problems, whatever they were.

 **_Later, then._ **Venom’s presence in his head fell quiet, and Eddie frowned.

He wasn’t sure if Venom was _annoyed_ at him. If that meant anything at all, even.

“Oh, fuck this.” He muttered, shaking his head, and snatched up another little morsel from a server’s tray as he passed by.

The hors d'oeuvres were at least tastier than the ones back at Dan’s promotion party, and Eddie immediately regretted thinking about it when Venom rumbled at the back of his mind, and a familiar heat spread across his skin.

It was just like that day when this whole on-and-off fever started, and he could feel Venom squirming under his skin. He hissed slightly, walking stiffly behind an oblivious Mary.

They were doing so well, too—the fever hadn’t come up since last night, thankfully absent since waking up to Mary making coffee in the kitchen.

It was uncomfortable, walking around with that growing desperation for sex burning under his skin, until he couldn’t take it anymore.

Venom was moving around too much—his bowtie was growing unstable, and he could feel the desperate sensation of _want_ and _need_ burning his blood embarrassingly quickly.

“Mary— _Mary._ ” He forgot to call her by her surname, grabbing her arm, and the young woman turned to look at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but her annoyance quickly melted away to surprise when she saw his sweating face.

“Mister Brock!” She gasped, rooting around her little clutch before pulling out a sheet of tissue for him to take. “Here. Wipe yourself off. Is it the fever again?”

“Y-yeah.” He stammered, “We’re just gonna—bathroom—”

“Yeah, of course.” She nodded, her violet star earrings bouncing with her movement. “Do I wait up for you?”

“Nah, enjoy yourself for a bit.” Not that she wasn’t already doing that, but _still._ Eddie went to the event to find Lotus, and so far all his efforts were for naught. Still, Mandrake assured him this was a good place to at least find some board members or even the CEO themselves, so he wasn’t about to give up that easily. “I’ll just—I’ll give you a call when we’re done.”

“Oh, right.” She nodded, “Here, my number.”

She pulled a little sparkly pen out of her clutch and wrote it own on an old receipt she produced from the bottom of her bag before she handed it to Eddie. He looked down at it, and thought it looked familiar.

“This, uh, your work phone?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“No. I only have just the one number.” She replied, and patted his shoulder. “You’re looking real flushed, Mister Brock. You should really get going.”

“Right.” Eddie shook his head in an attempt to clear it, but Venom was hissing in his head, writhing under his skin in a way that felt way too hot and way too _needy_ to ignore. “I’ll—I’ll see you in a bit, kid.”

“Take care, Dad,” Mary replied without thinking, but Eddie had already walked away before either of them realised what she said.

It took him a while of trying his best to at least not run into anything before he did eventually bump into something—no, some _one,_ and Eddie had to strain himself to realise that they were wearing green, and wore the same perfume Anne used to wear.

His fever-addled mind stuttered, and a confused, “Anne?” popped out of his mouth.

“I’m afraid I don’t know who this Anne person is,” a masculine voice said, soft and ironic, and Eddie’s mind jolted into some semblance of clarity at the suddenness of it. His vision cleared somewhat to let him realise that he had bumped into a black-haired person wearing ruby earrings and a pastel green jumpsuit gown underneath a pinkish white blazer, and he blinked slowly.

They were certainly very beautiful, he thought. And also in makeup. Maybe that was why.

“But I do believe you must be Mr. Eddie Brock?”

“A-ah, yeah.” Eddie shook his head, wincing. He felt for his throat, wondering if Venom was still there, but his bowtie was missing, and he suppressed the urge to sigh. The Symbiote had slid completely back under his skin, and he felt far too overdressed and underdressed all at the same time.

Stupid fever, he thought. Stupid fancy parties and their dumb hors d'oeuvres.

“Sorry.” He pulled away from them, urging himself back into clarity to at least stand somewhat decently upright, and look at his companion properly. “I’m not feeling that great right now.”

“I figured from your feverishness.” They replied, “Forgive me for assuming things of you, but I don’t suppose you are in need of the restrooms right now?”

“Yeah, I’d love to actually get there.” Eddie replied dryly, and they laughed daintily behind a wrist wrapped with a golden bracelet.

“Yes, Mr. Mandrake did say you had a sort of charm unique to journalists like yourself.”

The mention of Mandrake’s name got Eddie to perk up and he finally managed to focus on the young person he stood in front of. They wore a lovely, neutral smile on their face, painted lips curling up in a curl not too different from Drake’s plastic smile, and Eddie didn’t like it.

“Ah, damn—sorry.” He straightened himself up, wincing at the creak of protest his body made, and Venom’s hiss at his movement. He offered them his hand, and they cocked their head at him in greeting as they took it to shake it in a surprisingly firm handshake. “Yeah. Eddie Brock. Mandrake hooked me up with your gig.”

“That he did.” They replied, letting go as they lifted their other hand to drum their slim fingers decorated with golden claw-like accessories over their braided hair slung over their shoulder. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you. My name is Lotus. CEO of Belladonna Cosmetics.”

Lotus. Right. Just the person he was looking for.

 **_Eddie._ **Venom hissed in his head, and he hid his grimace with an awkward smile.

“Nice to meet you too.” He said, strained. “I’d love to stay and talk, but,” he made an awkward gesture at himself, and Lotus chuckled.

“Ah, yes. It seems you are unwell.” They nodded. “Come, I’ll show you to the restroom myself.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay, I’m—I’m okay,” Eddie began, but Lotus took him by his elbow and led him onward.

It was a little awkward, with Lotus only slightly taller than him thanks to their stilettos, but somehow Eddie found himself standing in front of a familiar sign in front of a door.

“Huh?” He said intelligently, and Lotus smiled at him placidly as he straightened up. “This is…”

“The men’s restrooms, yes.” They replied. “I’ll have someone come by with a medication patch for you. Apologies, all we have on hand with our resident clinicians are Life Foundation products, but it is all a matter of disposing of old stocks before transitioning to responsible product sourcing.”

Half of that flew over Eddie’s throbbing head, but he nodded.

“Th-thanks.” He managed, stumbling into the room. “I’ll just—wash my face. It’s no big deal.”

“A towel, then.” Lotus said, before Eddie shut the door behind him. “And a painkiller patch?” They smiled sweetly, cocking their head, and Eddie gave them a withering smile.

“That’d be amazing.” He said flatly. “Thanks.”

“But of course.” Lotus pressed a hand to their heart, and bowed. “I look forward to speaking with you later, Mr. Brock.”

Eddie stepped into the restroom with a groan, making a beeline for the sink to splash his face with cold water. He shuddered, and looked into his reflection to see Venom looking back at him, panting heavily.

“Damn it, buddy, not here.” He groaned, “We’re working.”

**_Can’t fight it._ **

Eddie bit his lip, and he looked towards the door, his heart rate soaring at the thought of what they were about to do. “Venom—”

**_Eddie, please._ **

Oh, god. Here they go again.

He only managed to rush to the door to lock it when Venom slid out from under his skin with a hiss, wrapping around his midsection to pull him back towards the glittering marble sinks. Eddie shuddered, pulling himself up onto the sink for purchase, and much to his surprise, one of Venom’s tendrils slid under his chin to lift his head, making him look at himself in the mirror.

Much to his shock, Venom stood behind him in their reflection, his long, long tongue snaking around Eddie’s neck, and he could feel the hot, _wet_ slide of it against his skin. He shivered, feeling Venom reaching under his clothes, sliding underneath the suit to spread liquid fire under his skin with every brush of his being against Eddie’s skin.

“ _Shit,_ Venom—” Eddie hissed, bucking back against a body he felt against his back like a second skin, but he knew Venom wasn’t completely corporeal—not like that first night they had sex. “What—what are we doing?”

 **_I want you to see what I see when we make love, Eddie._ ** Venom sounded so _lost_ in the heatwave that spread over the both of them, and the sound of it took Eddie’s breath away. It got caught somewhere in the middle of his throat, and he choked up when he felt Venom’s tendril wrap around his leaking, hard cock.

“W-wait, I can’t ruin this suit,” he stammered, reaching down to undo his slacks, only managing to pull out his dick before Venom’s tendrils snatched up his wrists and pinned them to the sink—

And just like that, Eddie found himself unable to move, pinned down by his Symbiote’s sheer power.

It really didn’t come as a surprise to him, at this point, that the thought of Venom completely dominating him again, despite his current lack of a corporeal form, turned him on.

Like an instant switch, really.

 **_You’re beautiful, Eddie._ ** Venom rumbled through his whole body—his voice vibrating pleasantly under his skin, and Eddie shivered as Venom lifted him, hoisting him up to kneel on the sink, giving him a full view of his cock flagpole-straight surrounded by the squirming, swirling mass of Venom’s body wrapped around him. His eyes went wide as Venom kept his gaze pointed at his reflection, making him take in the sight of the flush that travelled down from his cheeks to his neck, disappearing under his popped collar where Eddie could see that his collarbones also carried that lovely pink blush that no makeup could ever hope to replicate.

**_So beautiful._ **

Venom’s tendril tightened around him— _all_ of him, and Eddie gasped, his head jerking back against where Venom’s shoulder should have been as pleasure wracked his whole body when Venom squeezed his cock in time with his ass.

**_All mine._ **

“Yours, right.” He managed, delirious with pleasure and the heat of his heartbeat roaring in his ears, thrusting shallowly into the grip around his erection. “You’re—you’re mine, too.”

 **_Yours._ ** Venom purred, and Eddie jolted when he felt something _wet_ slide over his entrance. He opened his mouth to say something—a weak protest made in vain, no doubt—but it died on his lips when Venom began to jerk him off, his precum beading at the tip of his head and smearing Venom white.

“A- _ah, fuck!_ ” He gasped, falling lax against the strong hold Venom had on the rest of his body, pliant and panting when Venom lifted his head again to keep him watching—

To keep him looking at himself in the mirror, at the lewd expression on his face and the downright _wanton_ way his lips parted around aborted cries of Venom’s name. He hadn’t noticed where Venom’s other tendrils went, too focused on the one around his dick, until he felt them—a pair of tentacle-like tendrils wrapping around his pectorals, and _squeezing._ Another one heading down towards his ass to slide oh so deliciously between his cheeks, and then there was Venom’s tongue again.

 **_Wanna eat you out._ ** Venom rumbled, and Eddie shuddered, nodding desperately as his hips continued canting into the sweet, loosened grip Venom had on his cock. **_Wanna watch you cum with my tongue inside you._ **

“ _Shit,_ ” Again with the stellar, intelligent commentary, Brock, Eddie thought at the back of his mind. At this rate he could win himself an award with all the stuff coming out of his mouth while Venom rubbed against him in all the right places. “Yes, yes, yes—fuck, Venom, show me what that tongue can do.”

**_Gladly._ **

Eddie couldn’t help the embarrassing _yelp_ he made when Venom suddenly slid his tongue inside him, fucking into him with little abortive stuttering that reached so _deep_ inside him that his tongue tickled his prostate with teasing little brushes against it. His cock jolted, jerking in interest against Venom’s grip as it spurted out a little burst of precum.

The Symbiote chuckled darkly, his grip tightening on Eddie’s wrists as he began to fuck him with his tongue, pulling out stuttering gasps from Eddie’s lips, and _god_ it felt so good—

**_Look, Eddie. Look at us in the mirror._ **

Venom made Eddie’s eyes shoot open, and he gasped when he saw the way he looked.

His suit was still on, still impeccable and clean, but he could see the way it strained slightly against his straining arms and chest, held down by Venom’s tendrils on the counter. His dick, proud and angry red, bobbed with the movement of his hips, both by his own desperate thrusting and by the way Venom fucked into his ass with his tongue. Precum beaded at the head of his cock, leaking down over Venom’s tendril and spilling down onto the burgundy marble of the sink, and Eddie couldn’t quite believe himself when a thought entered his mind unbidden.

 _Shit, this was_ **_hot._ **

**_Yes._ ** Venom slid out from under his skin, face and all, and Eddie almost mourned the loss of his tongue inside him— _almost,_ when a dick roughly the same size but _hotter_ took its place inside him. Eddie jerked his head back, letting out a soundless shout in pleasure, but Venom slid his head behind Eddie’s, and lifted it again.

He pressed their cheeks together, making Eddie watch alongside him as he began to pump Eddie’s cock with his tentacle, relishing the little gasps Eddie made as he grew closer and closer to the edge.

**_Hot, hot heat. You look so good, Eddie—we look good._ **

A long time ago, Anne had tried getting Eddie’s self confidence in himself to get better. They tried a myriad of ways, from simply talking it out to sexier things, but _nothing_ topped this odd self-confidence exercise Eddie was having right now.

“Y-yeah,” he panted, turning to kiss Venom’s temple as Venom suddenly thrust into him, growing into the size of the cock that fucked him _hard_ the other day, and he gasped. “V-Venom! W-we—we look—oh, _god,_ that’s so—that feels good—”

 **_Mine,_ ** Venom growled in reply, a rumbling, quivering roar crouching beneath his voice that began to crumble at the edges, reverberating _deep_ into their bones. **_You’re mine, you’re so beautiful. I love you._ **

“L-love you too—” Eddie could feel himself nearing orgasm. Venom’s dick felt so _good_ inside him, and the heat around them was so _unbearably_ delicious.

Venom growled, his head disappearing into Eddie’s body as he came suddenly, shuddering violently as he filled Eddie with his cum. The sudden gush of warmth inside him pushed him to his own orgasm, and Eddie groaned as he came into the sink, his cum quickly draining down.

It was dirty, hot as hell, and most importantly—fast. Venom immediately uncoiled from Eddie, disappearing back under his skin save for his dick that decided to plug him back up again. Eddie winced, relieved at the fact that he at least came into the sink, and washed his cock clean before tucking himself back in. He looked at himself in the mirror witheringly, and he could see how red his face was. Surprisingly, his clothes still remained impeccable, especially after he straightened them out a little, and sheepishly, he decided to splash water into his face again.

“Venom?” He ventured, “How are we doin’?”

Venom only purred contentedly. Eddie huffed fondly at that, and nodded.

“Better. That’s good.”

He unlocked the door almost gingerly and found on the floor next to it a towel and an unopened packet of a Life Foundation painkiller patch— _aspirin on a sheet of paper,_ it advertised, and Eddie picked them both up. He didn’t need the patch anymore, but he slid it into his coat breast pocket. He wiped his face clean, and looked around nervously, before he decided to come back into the bathroom to simply hang up the towel on a rung near the sink.

Poor unfortunate bastard who decides to use that, he thought, and headed outside to realise that some program had already started. Above his head he could hear someone speaking, and he realised that it was Lotus.

He winced. He probably made them wait, didn’t he?

Huffing to himself, he made a mental note to at least get the CEO something when he decided to grill them for whatever it was they were up to with Life Foundation. He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he looked around, squinting at the crowd to find Mary.

“ _Belladonna Cosmetics offers both affordable and luxurious lines of makeup for all walks of life. From its humble beginnings as a drugstore brand makeup, we have grown from a faceless brand on the shelf to a growing, thriving business with the aim to empower individuals of all genders and race._ ”

Sounded legit enough, he thought, but then again, every company had that kind of spiel about themselves. Nothing new there.

Eddie sniffed at the air. Was that one of Anne’s perfumes again?

“ _Because here at Belladonna Cosmetics, we believe that everyone has a flower that blooms within them, and that we can help it blossom to its fullest._ ”

He spotted a crowd gathered around a raised platform—a _stage,_ with Lotus themselves standing in the middle of it, speaking into a wireless microphone. He frowned at the sight—perhaps Mary was near there? He needed to at least find her again, first.

There was a light smattering of applause, and a server that walked by, in his raised hand a tray of champagne flutes. Eddie picked up one flute, and then took another in hindsight for Mary after the server slowed down for him, and he gave him an awkward smile, raising one of his flutes to dismiss the man. Satisfied, the server strode away, and Eddie took a tentative sip of the champagne.

“Where the _hell_ is that kid?” He muttered, tuning out some of Lotus’s speech and recording it on his phone for later listening, looking around for a familiar head of pigtails and platinum blonde hair.

You couldn’t miss someone like Mary—she stood out in a crowd, and Eddie knew that. Hell, it was the whole reason why he could see her tailing him the first time they met. It shouldn’t be that hard to find her, but she was nowhere to be found, and Eddie was growing restless.

Where the _hell_ is she?

“How about you, young lady? Yes, you there, with the lovely dress. Is that Atelier-Pierrot?”

“Oh, yes!” And Eddie’s heart sank to his gut when he saw Mary step onstage next to Lotus, looking positively _delighted._ “Wow, you really recognised the brand!”

“A friend has dabbled in that kind of fashion for some time,” Lotus chuckled, and looked her over. “My, you do your makeup very well already, but let’s have a look at how we can enhance your look today with our new line, the Dahlia.” They led her over to an onstage vanity, helping her take a seat and making a move to take her clutch from her, when she shook her head.

“No, it’s okay,” she said smoothly, and Lotus nodded.

“Well, miss. What’s your name?” They asked, as Mary was given another wireless microphone.

“I’m Mary!” She smiled.

“And who are we with today, Mary?”

She looked through the crowd, and her eyes landed on him. He shot her a withering look, and she leered.

Oh, crap.

“I’m with my dad,” She said, and pointed at Eddie. “Hi, dad!” She gave him an enthusiastic wave, and it took all of Eddie’s willpower not to hide, or smack himself in the face.

Not that he was capable of the latter, anyway—he _was_ holding on to two flutes of champagne, but now that made him look like a deadbeat alcoholic father.

He gave her a withering smile instead, and Lotus raised an eyebrow at them, smiling slightly.

“Oh, Mr. Eddie Brock? Well, I’ll be.” They nodded, “I never knew you had a daughter!”

Neither did he, really.

There were murmurs around him, guests turning to look at Eddie standing there almost out of disbelief, and he shot them all an awkward smile, trying not to throw back the half-empty flute of champagne in his right hand.

Stupid fuckin’ kid, he thought, and her stupid fuckin’ payback.

“Well, I’d better do my best,” Lotus laughed good-naturedly, “Oh, and there’s this too, just for you, Mary.”

They held out a small box to her, and Mary lit up, opening it to find a pair of enamel pins, one with a belladonna flower, and the other a black dahlia. Her eyes widened as she took them out, and Lotus chuckled, helping her pin them to her blouse collar, a shimmering gold chain connecting them in the middle.

“It’s so pretty!” She gasped, “And it suits my outfit!”

“Frankly, I’m pleasantly surprised, too.” Lotus nodded. “A gift, from Belladonna Cosmetics.”

“Thank you very much, Lotus!” She cheered, and they chuckled softly.

“Well, then,” they turned to the audience, “So, let’s first start with the foundation.”

Eddie watched them clean Mary’s makeup off before getting started on a new look, and he frowned into the rim of his glass.

So far so innocent, he thought.

_He didn’t like it._

* * *

Sure enough, Mary didn’t _shut up_ about it, excitedly chattering to Eddie about it during the gala dinner after Lotus’s presentation in a darker, smoky look that really did suit the black dress she was wearing. In the time Eddie watched Lotus demonstrate different makeup techniques with their different cosmetics lines on different volunteers in the crowd, Venom had finally woken up, and remained quiet while they watched Mary have the time of her life on stage.

He could feel the warm affection Venom had for her, and he wasn’t sure why.

There was something pointedly _different_ about Venom, definitely, but Eddie couldn’t put a finger on it. Hell, not even _Venom_ knew what was wrong with him, and in front of them, still excitedly chattering about her time on stage with Lotus and ignoring her food, was the only person who knew anything, if at all.

“Kid, listen—” Eddie began, but he cut himself off when Mary grinned at him slowly. He scowled, but there was little venom in his actions when he took a swig of his drink. Water, this time, at Mary’s insistence, and—yeah. He was sure he needed to stay sober if he wanted to interview not just Lotus, but Mary as well. “Okay, first things first—the _hell_ was up with that stunt you pulled on stage earlier?”

“Well,” Mary twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers. “You kept calling me a kid, so this is payback, _dad._ ”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You’re a prick.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. He shook his head, and he could feel Venom shifting under his skin.

**_I found it funny._ **

“You were asleep through most of it, babe.” He muttered, and Mary grinned against the rim of her own wine glass of water. “I lost my bowtie hours ago.”

Venom hadn’t bothered coming back to form Eddie’s bowtie, and Mary had agreed on it. With his collar popped and open, he was more handsome that way, according to both his Symbiote and Mary, anyway. Eddie didn’t know what to make of it, but it wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter. At least the formalities in this media event weren’t as stringent as he thought they would be.

**_You are more handsome that way. Ravishing._ **

Eddie blushed. “Love you too.”

“That’s sweet.” Mary sighed, and he waved his hand at her dismissively. “Dunno what you’re talking about, though.”

“Then don’t say stupid shit, dumbass.” He rolled his eyes, but Mary only giggled at him. “Hey, since we’ve got the time, I wanted to ask what you were about to say this morning.” Mary’s laughter died on her lips, and she cocked her head at him, as he swallowed down another bite of their dinner—salisbury steak. “You were going to tell me what you think was wrong with us.”

Mary pursed her lips for a moment, and sighed.

“Yeah, I was, wasn’t I?” She looked through her bag, and pulled out a little notebook. She flipped through it with a thoughtful hum, and nodded. “Well, as I said, when Symbiotes mutualise with their hosts, they adapt their physiology to match the host’s. That means that whatever it is that happens with us mammals in our bodies, the Symbiote will use those mechanisms to survive.”

Eddie’s brow creased. “English.”

Mary pouted. “Basically, what humans do, the Symbiote will learn to do. Eventually.”

“Eventually.” Eddie echoed, and she shrugged.

“It took some time to get used to Venom, right?” She asked, “You ran a high fever, you had a voracious appetite…” She counted her points off her fingers, “You probably had other problems, too.”

“The split personality problem, for starters.” Eddie muttered, rubbing his arm, and Mary cocked her head at him. “We didn’t exactly hit it off right away. Personality-wise, I mean.”

“That’s fair.” She nodded, “He does eat people to stay sated.”

 **_We’ve been doing better._ ** Venom said petulantly, and Eddie laughed.

“We’ve been doing better.” He said, and Mary huffed at them.

“You ate the three muggers that held me up the other day.”

**_Bad guys._ **

“Bad guys.” Eddie shrugged, “So, what about it?”

“Well, Symbiotes are anaerobic organisms—” Mary paused to look at Eddie’s blank expression, and tried again. “They don’t need oxygen to live. I’d go so far as they’d die in the presence of it, unless they’re bonded to someone.”

**_She is correct._ **

“He says you’re correct.” Eddie said, and she laughed sheepishly.

“Actually, that’s Dr. Skirth’s findings.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway. That means then they’ve managed to find a way to survive in oxygen-rich environments by integrating with your physiology. That then applies to everything else. Eating, sleeping, and stuff.”

“Uh huh.” Eddie tapped his fork on his plate. “Anything else?”

“That also um… applies to reproductive science.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at her, and she coughed delicately.

“What I’m saying is, since Venom bonded with mammals like us, is that he’d also picked up mammalian reproductive physiology.” She said carefully.

“Is that why he has a dick?”

Mary blinked at him, and Eddie pursed his lips. “Wrong question.”

“Right.” She said, glossing over that question like he hadn’t asked it. “So, what I wanted to tell you was that I think Venom is in heat.”

Eddie blinked at her. “He’s in _what._ ”

“Heat.” Mary repeated, and flushed. “You know. It’s almost the same across many mammals, but in humans it’s, uh. The menstrual cycle, for women. Since you’re not a woman, I’m guessing Venom moved along the evolutionary chain and—”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Eddie shook his head. “You lost me at heat. What the _hell?_ ”

“I’m really sorry, but do you even know what a heat is?” She asked, and Eddie ran his hand down his face.

“I wish I’m thinking of the wrong thing.” He said, “Tell me about it anyway.”

Mary shifted in her seat, visibly uncomfortable, but it wasn’t like Eddie was going to let her get away now. Not when he needed to know what was wrong with Venom.

“Well, it’s a time of the month when a mammal gets really, uh.” She dropped her voice into a whisper, and Eddie had to lean forward to hear. “Horny?”

Eddie blinked at her. “How. Did you. Know about that.”

**_Smart girl._ **

“Now’s not the time, Venom,” he hissed, and Mary scratched her cheek.

“Just… put two and two together. Normally when mammals approach their heat they stockpile on a lot of food to produce sex cells, and, um…” She trailed off into a mutter, and Eddie shook the table slightly.

“Mary, please. I know it’s embarrassing, but we have to know.”

Mary shot him a _look,_ and Eddie backed off.

“I _said,_ according to fanfic, heats manifest as fevers on people.” She managed to say, and Eddie blinked at her. “See! That’s why I didn’t wanna say anything until I’d gotten a really good look at Venom!”

Eddie sighed, dropping his face into his hands. _This_ was his life now.

 **_No, it makes sense, actually. The intense desire between us. The fever._ ** Eddie couldn’t believe Venom was agreeing to this. **_Eddie, I have something to tell you._ **

“Huh?”

He couldn’t say anything more, however, when Lotus strode over to their table, all smiles as ever before.

“Hello, Mr. Brock.” They greeted pleasantly. Behind them stood a tall man in a maroon suit, his eyes obscured by sunglasses, and a single golden earring hung from his ear.

“Lotus.” Eddie blinked, and they gave the two a smile as they gestured at the last unoccupied seat on Eddie and Mary’s little table.

“May I?” They asked, and the two nodded. They settled down with a look over their shoulder at the man behind them. “I’ll be alright, Rosa, thank you.”

Rosa nodded wordlessly and strode away, leaving Lotus with Eddie and Mary, the CEO lacing their fingers together beneath their chin to smile at them.

“Now, then,” they said, “About that chat, Mr. Brock? If you don’t mind us having to talk in front of your daughter, that is.”

Mary raised an eyebrow at Eddie, but the man waved her off, turning his attention fully on Lotus.

Venom’s confession will have to wait.

“Nah, it’s fine.” He shook his head, “This isn’t really on official business, I just had some stuff I wanted to ask you.”

“Stuff, I think, could not have been asked through an email?” Lotus asked, and Eddie gave them a withering grin.

“Would you have replied, I wonder.” He said, and the CEO laughed.

“Impressive as always, Mr. Brock.” They nodded, “Well, then. By all means, have at me.”

Eddie turned to look at Mary, and scratched his cheek. “Hey, sweetheart? Can I borrow your notebook for a sec?” He asked, and Mary pouted at him as she wrote something down on her notebook quickly before handing it to him.

“Jeez, remember to bring your own stuff, _dad._ ” She replied, but handed over her sparkly pen as well. Eddie flipped through the notebook and opened it up at a blank page near the back. Mary rolled her eyes and he gave her a withering grin.

“Says the little brat who begged for the access pass here.” He said, and between Mary’s spluttering, Lotus chuckled fondly.

“Ah, so that’s why Mr. Mandrake asked me for them.” They said, and Eddie turned back to them.

“Yeah, for starters, how did you know Mandrake?” He asked, and they nodded.

“He had worked with me a long time ago.” They said. “He was the agent that connected Belladonna Cosmetics to Life Foundation.”

Ah, there it was.

“Which begs the question, now.” They continued, “Aside from your daughter’s excitement to see the media event, are you here to ask me about our connections with Life Foundation?”

Eddie seemed unfazed, and Mary blinked at him.

“Yeah, you know it.” He shrugged easily. “I mean I’m sure you’ve already seen my exposé on Drake and the work they’ve been doing.”

“Surely you’d think to stop there?” Lotus asked, “My company and I have done no wrongs, except maybe to work with Carlton Drake until his demise.”

“I don’t like leaving jobs half-done.” Eddie replied wryly. “Anyway, if you don’t have a lot to hide, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Absolutely.” Lotus agreed placidly, and a waiter arrived with a glass of red wine for them. They gave him a kind smile and took the offered drink before sending him off, and they took a sip, pointedly looking at Eddie to speak first.

“Okay.” The man nodded. “So, what business did Belladonna have with Life Foundation?”

“We outsourced some research divisions from them for some of our products. The cleansing pads, and the like. I’m sure your daughter has used some of them.” They looked at Mary, who nodded.

“Yeah, I use the facemasks a lot.” She said, “Is that part of the stuff you’ve outsourced from Life Foundation?”

There was an odd edge to Lotus’s smile at Mary’s question, and Eddie stopped writing.

He didn’t like this—this strange, loaded look between them.

**_We don’t like this, Eddie. Mary’s in danger._ **

They weren’t quite sure of that yet, nor was Eddie quite sure _why_ Venom was protective of her, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking that. He remembered Mary scribbling something down on the book before she handed it over, and he flipped it over to the last page she wrote on to find Mary’s message to him.

_mr brock i helped develop the aspirin pads n the facemasks also y is lotus here???_

“Yes, actually.” Lotus nodded. “They’re very popular.”

They reached into their coat to pull out a small packet of strips, of a similar kind as the one Eddie was given in the bathroom.

“For instance, these.” They said, turning the packet over to let Eddie and Mary see that it was for on-the-go pimple and oily spots treatment. “They are still in their prototype phases, but these patches work instantly with an in-house developed technology that delivers drugs straight to their targets.”

Eddie tried not to make it obvious that he noticed Mary visibly stiffening up in her seat.

“Huh. Sounds like a wonder invention. Makes me wonder why it’s not in mainstream pharma.”

“Oh, by all means, it was.” Lotus nodded, and set the packet down on the table. “It is a Life Foundation patented invention, much like that aspirin pad you were given earlier.”

“Right, right.” Eddie nodded. “You, uh, funded that project?”

“The most of it, yes. The biopatch technology is of our interest, after all.” Lotus answered with a graceful nod. “That is the reason why the patent also allows us to use it in our cosmetic products. Did you ever manage to use one, Mr. Brock?”

Eddie shook his head. “Sorry, my headache cleared up after I did my business in the bathroom.” He pulled the patch out of his pocket to hand it back to them, but they shook their head.

“It’s alright, you may keep it. In the case you are in need of it again.” They turned to Mary, and smiled. “May I ask for your cooperation again, my dear? I’d like to demonstrate to Mr. Brock how the biopatch works.”

“S-sure.” Mary nodded uneasily, and Lotus gestured at the patches on the table.

“Which skin problem do you struggle with?” They asked.

“Um, oil.” She replied awkwardly, and the CEO nodded, picking up the sunflower yellow one to tear it open. They pulled out a set of eight little yellow sunflower petal shapes stuck to a clear sheet of plastic, and Mary’s eyes widened at them. “Oh, those are cute.”

Lotus chuckled fondly, pulling one biopatch off the plastic. “Thank you. Now, each of these biopatches are infused with sunflower oil and gold particles, to help you with your problem and to revitalise your skin.” They winked at her, gesturing for her to come closer. Mary scooted her seat closer to them, and they pressed a sheet to the bridge of her nose, and then another pair on her cheekbones. “I recommend putting these on your t-zone, and under your lip for maximum control.”

Eddie blinked at them. He’d heard some of those terms when Anne was busy with her own beauty routine, but he still didn’t understand a thing. Mary seemed to, though, nodding in understanding as she pulled away from them.

“Ooh, they’re fragrance free?”

“Yes.” Lotus nodded. “We’re still developing the scented variant. How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay.” Mary hummed, and much to Eddie’s surprise the sheets melted into her skin.

“Wh-what—” He stammered, and Lotus smiled at him.

“This is the power of the biopatches.” They explained, slipping the sheet of biopatches into its foil wrapping before handing it to Mary with a kind smile. “They leave no waste and are 100% safe for bodily absorption. They’re also biodegradable after their expiration date, and leave no harmful chemicals in the environment afterwards.”

They smiled at Mary, who patted her cheeks experimentally.

“It’s a particular favourite invention of mine. The efficacy is astounding.”

“Yeah, they’re really effective.” Mary nodded, and turned to Eddie. “Anything else, dad?”

Eddie took a deep breath. The last time he tried shit like this, he and Anne lost their jobs and their relationship. He wasn’t even sure if there was a lot Mary could afford to lose, if she had anything to lose in the first place, but at the back of his mind, Venom hissed.

**_Don’t hesitate. We can make it through this._ **

“What do you have to say about the alleged connections between your company and the terrorist group Atropine?” He asked, and Mary’s eyes widened at him. Lotus remained impassive, but at least they weren’t immediately defensive like how Drake was when he first asked him. “There has been word that your company is funding and perhaps even part of this terrorist group.”

“Terrorist seems to be such a heavy term, don’t you think?” Lotus replied, and Eddie’s eyes narrowed at them. “Still, I deny any involvement. They perhaps appropriated our products for whatever bioweapon need they have, but they are certainly not explicitly supported by us.” They flicked an imaginary speck of dust off their shoulder. “Mr. Mandrake said you’d ask questions like this.”

“Like I said,” Eddie replied, “If you don’t have anything to hide, there won’t be a problem.”

“But of course.” They nodded once. “Any untoward behaviour displays guilt, after all.”

Eddie nodded, and took a swig of water.

“Not that these allegations are unfounded, but I do have to admit that it is a bit amusing.” Lotus chuckled, “After all, it is common knowledge that the belladonna flower produces atropine toxin.”

**_We don’t like this._ **

You can say that again, Eddie thought dryly.

“So, this is really off the record, right,” he said, and they nodded. “But you, uh. Recently Belladonna got a massive kick in worth despite the fact that you are just exclusively distributing in just the United States.”

Across him Mary gaped. She hadn’t known that, had she?

“Oh, I’ve heard this—there was an erroneous percentage report in the _Wall Street Journal—_ ”

“I ran the numbers with a friend of mine,” Eddie cut them off, “Even with the fancy makeup lines you wouldn’t have earned that much in half a year, unless someone in your finance department is reporting the wrong raw numbers.”

Lotus pursed their lips, and for the first time, looked _annoyed._

“The boost in company value followed after your tie-up with Life Foundation, which, coincidentally, also saw a good fiscal term for a good while.” Eddie smirked, “Any comment on that?”

“Mutualistic relationships.” Lotus replied, and a slow smile spread across their lips.

**_We really, really don’t like this._ **

“Symbiosis, if you will.” They said. “As with many inter-company relationships that yield beneficial results. Our collaboration with Life Foundation boosted our stock value, that is all.”

Eddie held his tongue. He hadn’t done much research and probing beyond this, and Venom was growing restless. There was something _wrong_ here, but he didn’t know what. Not even Venom knew what was wrong.

“Interesting way of wording it.” He said simply, and much to their surprise, Rosa appeared behind Lotus again, looking stern as ever.

“Oh, apologies, it’s time for me to go.” Lotus said pleasantly, getting up. “Please, enjoy your evening.” They gave Eddie and Mary a kind smile, and strode off.

“Pretty convenient for Rosa to just show up.” Mary muttered, as Eddie sat back in his seat with a sigh. “Mister Brock?” She asked, cocking her head at him, and he gave her a withering grin.

“That’s called a backdoor way out.” He said, and huffed. “I’d been meaning to ask you some things, too, but Venom doesn’t like it here.”

“Me neither.” She replied, and he raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m… not having fun anymore.”

 **_Let’s go home._ ** Venom said, and Eddie didn’t know why he repeated it.

“Let’s go home.”

They left the hall in silence, and Eddie strode onward, back in the direction of the bus stop before his apartment. He stopped when he realised that Mary wasn’t following him. He turned around to look at her, confused for a moment as he cocked his head.

Mary blinked at him, and slowly smiled.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mister Brock.” She said, gesturing in the opposite direction. “I can take the train back to my apartment.”

“Right.” Eddie said after a moment’s hesitation. “Um. See you.”

“Please give me a call when you can.” She nodded. “Take care.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, suffering the effects of bleach burn on my respiratory tract: hey kids wanna read about monster fucking?


	4. eating for two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Children are gifts, they always say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > excellent chapter planning skills, brought to you by bukkun, featured in the critically acclaimed nano project [#EatingForTwo](https://twitter.com/hashtag/EatingForTwo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/onJwYzt67x](https://t.co/onJwYzt67x)
>> 
>> — ⭕️ merry bukkmas 🌟 (@trickscd) [20 December 2018](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1075746191059619842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> h
> 
> i deadass just realised a while back that i haven't updated this thing in ages will you forgive me if i posted a uhhhhhhhhh 13k chapter, thanks
> 
>  **this features lactation kink somewhere down there in the sex scene.** i'm not even repentant. if you've made it this far, pal, you're a kinky motherfucker. i say have fun with it
> 
> im sorry pals dbh sucked me into its clutches i could not get away for a good long while

Eddie didn’t know why he expected for Mary to follow him. It was easy to forget, somehow, that Mary wasn’t his daughter. That she was her own full grown ass adult that had her own apartment and means of making money, but by _god_ why was it so easy to think of that image? Waking up in the morning to hear Venom and Mary laughing together in the kitchen, the scent of coffee in the air and eggs frying in a pan?

Hell, Eddie didn’t even know if he was suited to a family life. Venom seemed insistent on it, too, but something didn’t feel right.

Something was _missing._

As he stumbled back into his apartment, he ignored the interested looks thrown his way—it was, definitely odd, for him to be walking around in a suit, collar popped, disappearing into a dinky little apartment. It didn’t suit his look, he knew, but right now he couldn’t care less.

He shut the door behind him with a sigh, Venom sliding out from under his clothes to help him shrug them off until he was left in his boxers. The heat between them was noticeably absent, Eddie thought belatedly, as Venom gently manoeuvred their body to the couch before sitting Eddie down on it.

It was overwhelmingly domestic, now that he thought about it. Venom was a creature unused to Earth, to calm domesticity like this, and yet there they were, cuddling together on the couch as Venom handed him his laptop.

Eddie laughed tiredly. “Working me dry?” He asked, and Venom shook his head.

 **_Self-care. Wanna watch a movie._ **He said, and Eddie shrugged.

Couldn’t argue with that.

“Sounds great.” He replied, and peered at the fridge. “I think I still have a pint in there.”

**_Eddie—_ **

“Ice cream.” He said, “I meant ice cream, babe.” Eddie chuckled when Venom looked at him witheringly. “Could you go get it for me? Oh, and uh, tater tots too.”

The Symbiote let out a tendril to reach for the freezer, as Eddie turned to look at his laptop.

“And can you get me the Lay’s in the cupboard?”

Venom turned his head to look at him, and Eddie shrugged.

“Sorry, I’m just…” He made a vague gesture with his hands, “I have this urge to eat everything in the kitchen.” He laughed meekly, rubbing the back of his head as Venom shook his head fondly. “Anything you’re up to watching?”

**_Close your eyes and let me choose._ **

Eddie shrugged, and did as he was told, feeling Venom move his hand, and when he clicked on something, he opened his eyes, accepting the pint of chocolate ice cream Venom handed him, spoon stuck into the cream as his other two orders—the tater tots and the chips—were set down by his side.

“ _Alien._ ” He deadpanned, blinking as the movie started up, grinning slightly when Sigourney Weaver appeared on screen. “Why the sudden interest? Not that I’m complaining.”

**_I just… thought of something._ **

At that Eddie sobered up. “Is this about our heat?”

 **_I’m not sure._ ** Venom settled down next to Eddie with a contented purr. **_I looked through your memories and saw this. I wondered what humans thought of extraterrestrials._ **

Eddie winced. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but not the best.”

**_I wouldn’t blame them. I used to be hostile too._ **

_Until I met you,_ went unsaid, but Eddie could feel Venom’s affectionate brush of their minds together. He smiled at that, and shrugged.

“Fair enough. It’s a good movie, though.”

**_I’ll be the judge of that._ **

“You’re me, and I’m you.” Eddie snorted. “You’ll _love_ it.”

 **_Fair enough._ ** Venom’s voice was amused, and he laced their hands together. **_Now shut up, I’m trying to figure out which race these xenomorphs remind me of._**

* * *

 ****His phone alarm woke him up this time, and Eddie sat up slowly to turn it off, dropping his phone next to his pillow.

“Venom,” he said, “Didn’t you have something to tell me?”

**_Yes. We completely forgot when we came home._ **

That was right—he’d been so preoccupied with Belladonna Cosmetics and Lotus, with Mary and her strange, strange pull on him. He still had to get back to Mandrake, but all he somehow managed last night was sit down and watch whatever movie Venom wanted to see— _Alien,_ of all things, and Venom enjoyed it as much as Eddie did, as he expected—and stuffed his face with ice cream until he fell asleep.

And yet he woke up in his bed, to the sound of his phone alarm.

“Was that you?” He asked, and Venom slid out from under his skin to nod at him. Eddie smiled softly at him, and patted his head. “Thanks.”

**_Eddie—_ **

Suddenly his stomach heaved. Something felt _wrong._

He could feel bile climbing his throat, an uneasy feeling settling in his gut. He hurried out of his room and straight toward the bathroom, barely making it in time to throw up into the toilet. Confusion blared in his mind as he dry heaved, feeling Venom’s tendril rub his back comfortingly as he heaved again and again until his gut calmed down.

“Holy shit,” He panted, slumping to the ground while Venom flushed the toilet for him. “What. the hell. Was that.”

**_Perhaps it is a result of that heat Mary told us about._ **

Eddie’s eyes widened. “What the _hell._ You can’t be serious. I can’t be _pregnant!_ ”

**_Why not?_ **

“I don’t know if you noticed, Venom, but we’re both guys!”

 **_Technically, only you are._ ** Eddie stopped at that, and he groaned, running his hand down his face.

“I can’t fucking believe this.” He muttered, and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were sunken, his face pale and sweaty, and he shook his head, leaning down to wash his face into waking himself into clarity. “This is the worst, actually.”

**_Is it?_ **

He looked up into the mirror to see that Venom had replaced his reflection, looking at him with those slanted eyes that Eddie could feel in his heart as _worry._ He couldn’t help but sigh, and he shook his head.

**_Is it really so terrible for us to have a child together, Eddie?_ **

“I’m just—” He hesitated, and he buried his face in his hands. “What the _hell._ It’s all so new to me, I mean—” Eddie waved his hands exasperatedly, “None of this is _normal!_ I’m a human _guy,_ I can’t possibly be pregnant—”

**_You are anything but boring, Eddie._ **

For a moment, Eddie had to laugh. When had _normal_ equated to boring?

**_When I met you._ **

That made Eddie pause, and he looked at Venom again in the mirror.

**_Eddie, I love you very much, and I know I had to tell you something, but I supposed you had already figured it out._ **

Eddie gaped at Venom, who looked sheepish.

**_We feel the need to spawn coming soon. It is imminent. I can feel the child under our skin, ready to emerge soon. I wish I could tell you, I wish I’d realised sooner._ **

Eddie’s breath fled his lungs.

He was… for the lack of a better term, _pregnant._

With an alien baby inside him.

There was very little else to do but faint, after that.

Fuck it, he thought, before he went unconscious, he must have been drunk, he must be dreaming.

_Good fucking night, world, I’ll see you later._

* * *

The day was going by uneventfully, but Mary didn’t really feel like seeing Eddie again _that_ soon, anyway. She had been nervously waiting for his call since that morning, but when nothing happened as lunch approached, she settled instead to obsessively clean her room and ignoring the glaringly obvious strangeness between them since yesterday.

Back alone at home, she wandered around in an old shirt, hurrying around her little apartment fixing things that were already in place, until one of the PS4 titles on the shelf underneath her TV fell from the shelf.

She frowned down at it, and shrugged.

Well, if Eddie wasn’t going to call her yet, she might as well spend the day doing something that would take her mind off whatever it was that was bothering her.

Not that she wanted to acknowledge it, it felt… _uncomfortable_ thinking about it, but as she made her way through her game, watching as Mickey Mouse spoke gently to a silver-haired teenager with an oversized key, she frowned.

“He’s not my dad…” she muttered, and her frown deepened as the teen let out a small sob of relief, collapsing to the ground as Mickey rushed to his side.

“ _Nice try,_ game. _Very_ funny.” She scoffed, and angrily stabbed at the X button with her thumb. The cutscene ended, and Mary deflated, burying her face in her hands. “What the hell’s wrong with me?”

* * *

Eddie came to at the sound of his phone ringing. Blinking blearily he realised he was back in bed, and he smiled to himself, sighing as he buried his face into his pillow.

“Just a dream,” he sighed, “I knew it.”

**_It’s not a dream, Eddie._ **

He jolted, springing out of bed, and his phone clattered to the ground, still screaming for his attention. Eddie gaped at it, and then whirled around, trying to find Venom in a brief moment of delirium before the Symbiote made him pick the phone up and answer it.

“Shit—the _fuck—_ ”

“ _Eddie?_ ” Anne’s voice on the other side snapped him back to attention, and Eddie gasped in alarm. “ _Eddie? You okay?_ ”

“I’m.” He bit out. “Fine.”

“ _Huh._ ” Anne didn’t sound anywhere near convinced, and Eddie couldn’t blame her. He didn’t believe it, either. “ _Well, I just wanted to call you to ask if you don’t mind meeting up for lunch._ ”

“Huh?” He blinked, straightening up properly to sit on his bed with a small huff. “You’re asking me out for lunch?”

“ _There’s something_ _I wanted to ask._ ”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at that, and looked at the digital clock on his bedside table.

“ _It’s almost my lunch break. Meet me at our old usual?_ ”

Eddie hesitated for a moment, but relented.

“See you in ten.”

* * *

By the time he reached their old usual diner—the one where he and Anne used to go on dates in—Eddie realised he was hungry.

 _Deathly_ hungry, almost, and he could feel Venom squirming uncomfortably under his skin. In the time between Anne’s call and arriving there, Eddie had managed to take a shower and down a whole bottle of water without the Symbiote ever speaking, and he was starting to get worried.

Maybe it was _him,_ after all. Maybe Eddie was the problem.

Almost immediately, he jolted, Venom’s shock rooting him in place, and it took all his willpower to keep himself moving, to keep the strange stares at them at bay.

**_No, you’re not the problem. You’re never my problem._ **

Eddie frowned at that.

“Is it… the baby?” he muttered, and Venom fell quiet again. He sighed, and turned to step through the diner doors, muscle memory carrying himself to where he and Anne always used to sit at.

“I promise, babe. We’ll talk to Mary after this.”

Anne was already there, eyeing him expectantly, already with their usual orders in front of her. Eddie gave her a small smile, and she relaxed slightly, reassured at the sight of Eddie after the last she saw of him at their dinner with Dan.

“Hey,” he greeted, settling down in the seat across her, and she smiled.

“Hey.” She greeted, and for a moment, it felt like the good old days again. Like nothing went wrong between them, and it sat like a bittersweet ache in Eddie’s chest.

Still, Anne had moved on from him. He’d moved on from her, and he was glad they were like this—friends, still. Even until now.

Like routine, they tucked into their meal, a warm silence settling between them, and Eddie could almost forget that he had a Symbiote inside him. That he had _another_ one growing inside him.

Oh, god. He was _pregnant._ That was still hard to wrap his head around.

He finished up his meal with a small sigh, still unsatisfied, and waved a waiter over to order another plate. Anne raised an eyebrow at him, lowering her utensils as Eddie’s food arrived.

“That’s… a lot of food, Eddie.” Anne said, wide-eyed as Eddie moved on to the next plate. “You, uh. Up to something?”

“Eating for two,” He replied wryly, and Anne cocked her head at him. “Just kidding.”

She frowned, her pretty red lips turning downwards, and she shook her head.

“Eddie,” she began, and he nodded, humming his acknowledgement. “Did you start a family?”

Eddie choked on his food, and Anne shot to her feet, rubbing his back to help him through it as she handed him his glass of water. When he calmed down, he wiped at his mouth with the back of his wrist, and gaped at her.

“Anne, what the _hell?_ ” He spluttered, “Where did _that_ come from?”

“I just—” she hesitated, and bit her lip. “This is gonna sound really creepy, but I had a friend who was at the Belladonna Cosmetics showcase yesterday.”

Eddie’s eyes widened, and his heart fell to his gut.

“Shit—wait, Anne, I—”

“She said you had a daughter? Mary?” She squinted at him. “What the _hell?_ Did you hide something from me or did you just suddenly feel like adopting?”

“I—” Eddie sighed, and buried his face in his hands. “Listen, it’s. Not like that.”

Anne raised an eyebrow at him, and he laughed nervously.

“Okay. You know how I went chasing after Life Foundation’s connections after it fell, right?” He asked, and she nodded slowly, settling down in her seat, though she still regarded him with suspicion. “Mary Andrews—that’s her real name, by the way—she used to work with Skirth back in Life Foundation.”

Anne’s eyes widened. “You have an insider?”

“Yeah.” Eddie nodded. “She used to work under Life Foundation for Belladonna Cosmetics, too. Apparently developed some biotech for them, or something. I still have to ask her about it, but I think I have something.”

“Wait—wait—wait.” Anne shook her head. “Why are you looking into Belladonna in the first place? Don’t tell me—”

“Yeah, they’ve got something.” Eddie shrugged, and Anne slumped against the table.

“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered, “That’s my favourite brand.”

“They’re Mary’s too.”

“So, wait, what’s that about Mary being your kid then?” Anne lifted her head from the table to peer at him.

“It’s her stupid idea of a joke.” He huffed, “She said it’s because I kept calling her ‘kid’, so she—”

Eddie stopped himself.

Mary called him her dad, and he kept calling her ‘kid’. Venom was quite fond of her—protective, almost, as a parent would…

Oh, _god._ The heat— _pregnancy thing._ It was messing with them. Venom had imprinted out of instinct on Mary.

“Oh, _fuck._ ” Eddie buried his face in his hands, and Anne cocked her head at him.

“You alright?” She asked, “It’s not like it’s gonna ruin anything, you know.” She rested her chin on her hand, leaning on the table. “I mean, it should be pretty easy to dispel that rumour she’s your kid, she looks _nothing_ like you.”

“Yeah, I know, I just—” For fuck’s sake, Venom.

**_Sorry. We couldn’t help it._ **

“That’s fair.” He muttered, and the blonde across him frowned.

“And another thing.” Anne said, “What do you mean by eating for two?” Her eyes narrowed at him, and he shot her a withering smile. “Don’t tell me… your buddy’s back?”

“My buddy.” He echoed, “What, Venom?”

“The Symbiote.” She said, nodding. “You said you were eating for two.”

Eddie rolled his eyes.

“I’m eating for two because I’m pregnant with an alien baby and it’s hungry as hell.” He replied wryly, and Anne burst out laughing. She was always so charming like that, ugly-laughing when it truly mattered, and it had a rush of fond warmth blossoming in Eddie’s chest. “What? Why’re you laughing?”

“Oh, my _god._ You weirdo.” She said fondly, her eyes shining with mirth. “Okay, okay, you can say you just overslept and missed breakfast.”

Eddie’s smile widened at that, and he held his hands up. “You got me.”

Let it be said, after all, that truth was stranger than fiction.

Anne’s smile reached her eyes, twinkling something beautiful, and Eddie chuckled fondly. “Jeez, and here you had me worried. How’s your fever?”

“I sweated it out.” He replied easily, and Anne nodded.

“That’s good, that’s good. Dan was asking.”

Interesting.

**_I told you, Eddie, you’re a handsome man._ **

“Let’s not go there,” he muttered, and Anne cocked her head at him. He shook his head, waving her off. “How are you doin’, anyway? Not really often we get to eat out together like this these days.”

“Oh, you don’t even know _half_ of it.” Anne rolled her eyes, and Eddie shrugged.

“I’ve had a pretty weird week myself. Try me.”

* * *

“Mandrake, you’ve got one more report to look over.”

“Okay, bring it here.”

Mandrake watched a small pile of paper tossed onto his desk, and sighed.

“Right.” He said, and kept working on something completely different.

 _Atropine,_ read the subject of an email an old coworker sent him, and Mandrake focused on that instead.

For the most of it, his life was a solid 9-to-5 behind a desk sorting out marketing detail, once upon a time for a huge, thriving company that he had thought was too big to fall.

John Mandrake, 23 and under college debt, should have known better.

Now, he was back behind a desk, this time for some other company not too far down the line of Life Foundation, another science company that he hoped wouldn’t fall the same way Life Foundation did. Still, it was just a 9-to-5 with him behind a desk with far too much time on his hands for someone in a department that people thought drained the soul out of the people that worked in it.

It wasn’t a terrible life to live, really. It paid alright, kept him afloat and busy through the day until he came back to his tiny little apartment to play video games, stream to a modest audience on Twitch before hitting the hay to rinse and repeat.

His life wasn’t the most hectic anyone would hear of—really, if the highlights of it was people stumbling into his streams asking for the wrong Twitch streamer ( _no, for the fifth time, he wasn’t Bryan Dechart_ ) was of any indication—but Mandrake was perfectly content with that. Staying on the sidelines, an asset, a convenient contact for curious reporters who wanted to systematically tear apart the company you used to work for.

He couldn’t remember when he first met Eddie Brock.

(His landlady did, though, excitedly chattering about seeing _the_ Eddie Brock from _that TV show on Netflix_ as he showed up on Mandrake’s doorstep in the middle of him streaming _Super Mario Odyssey_ to ask him about Carlton Drake, and anything else juicy he worked with during his time in Life Foundation.)

What he _could_ remember, though, was that wonderful sense of being _needed._ Like a supercooled liquid, he thought, where all it took was a single moment of agitation—the first ripple in a wave of others, to freeze him all up in shock.

And now there he was, Eddie Brock’s contact in so many places, and for what?

Mandrake stared at his tired reflection in his shut-down monitor, and sighed.

“I’m going home, guys.” He declared, getting up from his seat to the collective sounds of agreement from his coworkers.

“Hey, Mandrake! We’re going out drinking. Wanna come with?” Someone asked, but Mandrake shot him a tired smile.

“Sorry. I’ll be busy.” He said, and the young woman in the cubicle next to his giggled.

“Streaming tonight, John?” She asked, and he laughed weakly, shaking his head.

“Nah, I’ve got some sideline work to do.” He gave his coworkers a mock salute and strode away from his desk, heading to the elevator to log out and start heading home. He still had a bit of a laundry list to go through—not just Atropine and Belladonna Cosmetics, other sister companies he was sure would be under Eddie’s scrutiny soon—but he nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone suddenly rang on his way towards the elevator. He ducked into the men’s bathroom to look at his phone, and his eyes widened.

“Lotus?” He breathed, locking the door behind him, before answering. “Hello?”

“ _Hello, John._ ” Lotus’s voice was warm, and the young man couldn’t help but smile. “ _Don’t think I’ve forgotten your promise about that dinner date you owe me._ ”

“Right, right.” Mandrake ran his hand down his face. He’d completely forgotten. “I’m still not at home yet, so I—”

“ _I’m well aware. Rosa and I have been waiting for you outside your building for almost five minutes now._ ”

Mandrake jumped. “Wh- _what?_ ” He stammered. “What’re you _doing?_ ”

Lotus’s laugh was beautiful over the line. “ _Would you fault me if I said I missed you?_ ” They asked. “ _The first time I hear from you in years, and it’s for work. For shame, John. At least one dinner would have done the job a little more smoothly._ ”

Mandrake laughed at that nervously, striding out of the men’s washroom as he scratched the back of his neck. “Sorry. You know how I am.”

“ _Awkward, if a little shy._ ” Lotus replied, deadpan, and Mandrake winced. “ _Oh, don’t take that as an insult. I’ve heard that’s your main appeal on your Twitch streams, my little mister online gamer._ ”

“Shut up,” Mandrake laughed, his cheeks turning pink as he got into the elevator. “I’m goin’ down. Meet you in a few.”

“ _I look forward to it._ ” Lotus answered, and Mandrake hung up. He leaned against the wall of the elevator with a heavy sigh. That was right—he’d promised Lotus he would go with them on some fancy dinner at their insistence, in exchange for those passes he got Eddie to the Belladonna media event. He wondered how that went, but he never really got around to asking Eddie about it.

After all, Mandrake was just an informer. Nothing of importance to the greater scheme of things in Eddie’s investigations.

The elevator dinged, and Mandrake stepped out into his office building’s lobby to see a nondescript black sedan parked right outside. He couldn’t help but smile at that—Lotus, thankfully, respected his embarrassment over luxurious displays of wealth. He greeted the lobby receptionist on his way out, and before he could reach the car, Lotus opened the door to beam at him widely.

“Lotus.” He laughed softly, as they gestured excitedly for him to get in, and he climbed into the car next to them, nodding at Rosa through the rear view mirror. “God, it’s been a while.” He hugged them when they spread their arms for him, and when they pulled apart, Lotus cupped his cheek in their hand.

“It has.” They said fondly. “Do you still live in your apartment? You could do with a new change of clothes.”

It was only then did Mandrake realise he was dressed in a creased shirt and jeans, suddenly feeling underdressed in front of Lotus’s emerald suit. He flushed, and the CEO laughed, patting his back reassuringly as Rosa began to drive.

“Y-yeah, still the same old dinky little place.” He said, “Shit, sorry, this is embarrassing.”

“Nonsense.” Lotus shook their head, tutting. “I want nothing but the best for my friends.”

“Right.” Mandrake snorted, rolling their eyes. “So, where are we headed?”

“I’d prefer to surprise you.” Lotus chuckled, and Mandrake couldn’t help but feel nervous.

“Cool.” He said awkwardly, and tried not to think of Eddie. As if Lotus could read his mind, but he wasn’t about to take any chances. He couldn’t help but peer at Lotus, though, when they looked at their phone, and he could see what was on it.

The contact photo was the San Francisco police chief. What was Lotus doing contacting the police?

“John?” Lotus asked sweetly, and Mandrake tore his eyes away from their phone to blink at them, wide-eyed. “Black, or blue?”

Mandrake didn’t know why he had a sinking feeling they weren’t talking about clothes.

“Black,” he said, and thought of Eddie, worried. “This is the suit, right?”

“Of course.” Lotus replied, and he knew the sound of their voice when they were lying. They turned back to their phone, and Mandrake tried not to breathe too heavily, tried not to give away the sudden spike in his heart rate.

There was a sinking feeling in him that he was going to die, and he didn’t like it.

He hoped Eddie would get to the bottom of this, and _fast._

* * *

It was early evening by the time Eddie got back to his apartment, bags of groceries slung over his arm, his phone in his other hand. After the lunch with Anne, he decided to sort his groceries out before heading home, all the while talking to Mandrake about other leads to Life Foundation while Eddie thought of how to probe Atropine.

He still had a long list of organizations to go through, he knew, and just looking at the list made Eddie feel exhausted. Still, he had to go through all of them, find all the right people to talk to and have a word with the Network on getting interviews set up.

**_Eddie._ **

“Yeah?” Distractedly, Eddie stuffed the groceries into the cabinets in an approximation of sorting them out, piling perishables into his fridge with a grunt before pulling out a beer—only to jolt still, blinking in confusion. “Uh, babe?”

**_Don’t drink. Dangerous for the child._ **

Eddie felt his blood go cold at the thought—that was right, he was _pregnant_ now, what the _fuck._

Venom slid out from under his skin to rub comfortingly against his side, and Eddie smiled at him witheringly as he dumped himself on the couch with a tired sigh.

“This is so…”

**_Weird?_ **

“Different.”

Eddie settled for a softer word. It wasn’t that he completely hated what was happening to him right now—he loved Venom enough to know that this was something Venom was looking forward to, but there really was something _horrifying_ about the thought of carrying an alien baby inside you.

He thought back to the _Alien_ series, and the sight of those creepy little xenomorphs bursting out of people’s chest, and shivered.

Shit, what if that was how Symbiotes spawned their babies? That sounded horrifying.

And _painful._ Possibly even fatal.

Much to his surprise, Venom materialised behind him fully, wrapping big, strong, _warm_ arms around him.

**_No, Eddie. I won’t let that happen. You’ll be safe. I promise._ **

There was no denying the blush high on Eddie’s cheeks, the considerable amount of embarrassment flooding his chest and the warm affection that came with it.

Oh, he had to admit he loved this—the feeling of Venom holding him so comfortingly, so kindly. There was that odd rush of emotion inside him at the thought—Venom, an alien Symbiote, with all the strength and power to take a human’s life with a whip of his tentacles, wrapped around him like this.

A coiled, poised predator, a powerful, beautiful creature—

A devoted lover, a dear friend.

There was nowhere else in the world where Eddie felt safer than by Venom’s side.

He couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face, and he kissed whatever part of Venom he could reach softly.

“Thanks, babe.” He murmured, and he felt Venom purr against his body in contentment. “Hey, about this kid—you sound like you’ve done this before.”

**_Yes and no. It’s always different, depends on the host._ **

Venom bumped their foreheads together tenderly.

**_But I know it’ll be different with you._ **

Eddie smiled, and rubbed his nose against Venom’s head, affection swelling in his heart when he heard Venom laugh softly.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh like that, I think.” He said, and the Symbiote pulled away to look at him. “How’d the previous ones go? Do you think I’ll get to meet your other… kids? Spawn?”

Venom lowered his head, and Eddie’s heart sank.

“Venom?”

 **_They were all monsters._ ** He said quietly, voice a tiny rumble at the back of Eddie’s head, and the man’s eyes widened. His hand reached out to cup Venom’s head comfortingly, and the Symbiote leaned into his touch, eyes sliding shut. **_I was a monster. So were my children._ **

He slid down onto Eddie’s body, and the man sighed as Venom wrapped around him in another embrace.

**_And then I met you._ **

Eddie _knew_ he was blushing now.

“Hey, I was wondering—” he began, but then laughed when he felt Venom’s tongue tickle his cheek. “Cut it out, cut it out.”

**_I can’t kiss you, not the way you kiss me. This will have to do._ **

The man huffed fondly, and left him alone.

“Venom, I was just wondering. What made you change your mind?”

**_This, again?_ **

“I know you said I did.” He said, “But why? Why _me?_ I was a washout, a loser, alcoholic and depressed, hell, I even had anxiety and I don’t ever take care of myself properly. What did you see in me for you to—”

**_For me to love you?_ **

Eddie swallowed thickly. “Yeah.”

Venom went silent, and for a moment Eddie thought he said something wrong, but Venom spoke again.

**_The memories I have of Life Foundation are vivid. They are painful and harrowing. The worst experience of my life, and for a while, I thought I would die there._ **

Suddenly, Eddie’s vision went dark, and he gasped, jolting back against Venom’s body against his. The Symbiote purred against his skin reassuringly as he gently shut Eddie’s eyes, holding him close in a hug that Eddie found himself sinking into with a sigh.

**_I’ve told you before—I was just like you. A loser. An outcast. Weaker than anyone else back on my home planet._ **

Light suddenly flooded Eddie’s vision and he realised he was looking up at a familiar light fixture on the ceiling. The view suddenly shifted forward, and he looked out to find himself inside Life Foundation’s laboratory, gasping in shock when he saw Carlton Drake standing in front of him, frowning pensively down at him. Eddie shot backwards, panic seeping into his throat, clutching at his lungs as a pane of glass slid over his head—

And oh, _god oh god oh_ **_god, he couldn’t breathe—_ **

His vision whirled around, air filling his lungs, his body viciously rejecting it. Why did his lungs refuse to do it? Why did they suddenly stop working?

Eddie jerked in alarm.

The baby. Oh, god, the baby, the baby inside him—

**_Eddie. Breathe slowly._ **

“Venom?” Eddie stuttered, trying to look elsewhere but Drake looking down at him, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t look away.

An irrational fear crawled up his throat. He knew he wasn’t scared of him—Eddie had no reason to _fear_ Drake, of all people, especially when he was now _dead,_ but dead men don’t walk the earth, and this fear wasn’t his, no—

**_It was mine._ **

Eddie jerked back, and his vision darkened again when he suddenly slid into _something,_ and the next thing he knew, he could breathe again. His heartbeat was fast—so fast, rabbit-pulse and quick, and he gaped at his reflection in the glass separating him and Drake.

He was a rabbit.

**_I’m showing you my memories, Eddie._ **

And suddenly, just like that, it all made sense, when Skirth walked into his field of vision, worry etched into her features as the body he was in convulsed and ached, the panic and pain searing into his throat, burning his lungs and tearing out a soundless scream from Eddie’s chest.

His body felt like it was on fire, if the rabbit could scream, it would have—

And then just like that, it died. Life extinguished, in the blink of an eye.

Far too weak to take even the weakest Symbiote on this side of the galaxy. Venom slid back into the vacuum chamber, slinking into the corner to cower under the blaring light of the laboratory, the painful, frightful sensation of death still lingering in his cells. They were trembling, and Eddie felt his heart sink at the sight of Venom all alone.

Vulnerable.

_Scared._

**_I knew I was worthless on my planet. Worthless without a host. I had already watched another Symbiote die during testing. Who was to say I wouldn’t be next?_ **

Oh, Venom. In the excitement of meeting him, of everything else that snowballed after they took on Riot and Drake, the rocket— _everything—_

Eddie hadn’t known.

**_I thought that maybe this was retribution. I had done nothing but produce monsters, horrible, horrible creatures that only killed, not just to survive. I was weak, I was worthless to the other Symbiotes._ **

The vision of animal testing suddenly changed to a red-tinted room. It was _freezing_ in there, and Eddie could see frost spreading across the glass door. The body he was in right now was shaking, curled up into a ball with their head buried in their knees in the middle of the room.

This place—this was familiar.

Eddie almost jumped at the sound of banging. Someone’s voice, muffled through the door, and he could just barely see a palm pressed to the glass, and a familiar face.

 _His_ face.

**_And then I met you._ **

His vision whited out again, and Eddie winced, until he found himself looking up at himself from his seat on the ground. The sidewalk around them looked familiar—and he realised who it was he was occupying.

“Maria.” He breathed, and he felt Venom’s answering hum reverberate through his blood, his bones.

**_You were kind to her, when no one else was. She liked you a lot._ **

He’d been drinking himself half-blind, depressed over the nosedive his life took, and yet there he was, still giving Maria aid, chatting up Mrs. Chen.

**_Eddie, you are such a positive force, and it baffles me you’re not aware of it. You were kind, and I thought, maybe, you would be able to treat me the same way._ **

And—

**_You did._ **

Eddie gasped, jolting out of the vision to realise he was still on his beat-up couch, clinging onto Venom for dear life as outside the sun whispered its goodbyes for another day.

He panted heavily, as if he had run a marathon, and he looked up at Venom as the Symbiote’s head emerged to look down back at him.

**_I love you. I won’t be able to live without you._ **

“Well, I mean, yes, literally,” Eddie didn’t know why he had the habit of shoving his foot in his mouth when he spoke. Somehow only stupid shit made it through, but all his worries melted away when he heard Venom laugh again. “You’re laughing.”

**_Yes._ **

“I love you.”

It was stupid to say that out of the blue like that, but _damn it,_ it was hard not to feel so fond of the alien living inside him. At some point he thought of jokingly calling Venom his emotional support tapeworm—he’d actually done that, in front of Ms. Chen, but she didn’t get it—but now, with the mood so tender between them, Venom laughed again, bumping their heads together.

**_Eddie._ **

“Yeah, babe?” Eddie shut his eyes, sighing as he settled back against Venom.

**_Can we do it again?_ **

This time there was no haze of the heat between them. No wild, horny desperation that drove them both insane, insatiable—there was only that rawness that followed after you cut your heart open and let its contents spill. Venom finally let Eddie in—to some extent—to his head, and Eddie didn’t need to see more to fully understand him.

Bonded like that, he felt like they understood each other more. A fusion of tired, bleeding hearts split open and mashed against each other.

They had never been more in sync, and Eddie knew that Venom already knew his answer. But he also knew that Venom had picked up his habit of asking anyway.

Venom was careful, especially with Eddie. Even drunk on the waves of desire their heat brought to them, Venom remained loving, careful with Eddie’s significantly smaller body.

Oh, it was hard not to fall in love with that.

“Yeah, okay.” He said, “Let’s at least get this to the bedroom first.”

Venom positively _beamed_ at that, taking his hand excitedly as he pulled their body up off the couch—and much to Eddie’s surprise—hoisted him up into a bridal carry.

“Hey—the _fuck?_ ” Eddie stammered, his face on fire as the rest of Venom’s body materialised, rumbling with a pleased purr as he carried him across the apartment. That made Eddie laugh, his exasperation and embarrassment forgotten as Venom set him down on the bed delicately.

**_I love you, Eddie._ **

He smiled fondly as Venom climbed on top of him, and he let Venom lace their fingers together against the sheets.

“Love you too, Venom.” He chuckled fondly, shutting his eyes as Venom pressed his head to Eddie’s forehead, purring happily.

 **_I never thought I would ever have this._ ** He said, his other hand lifting to cup Eddie’s face tenderly, and the man laughed dryly.

“To be honest with you, so did I.” He replied, and lifted his free hand to cup Venom’s face as well. “After my life fell apart when I tried to face Drake the first time, I thought there was no hope for me left.”

Venom shut his eyes as Eddie stroked his head, the man shivering at the sensation of Venom’s hand stroking him back slowly, caressing his skin like it was made of silk, tracing a path of heat down from his jaw, down the line of his neck. Hissing softly, Venom let him go for the briefest of moments to slide his hand up Eddie’s shirt to caress his shoulder, his pectorals, marvelling at the delicate, soft skin under his powerful, significantly larger hands.

“I thought—I thought that was it. It was over.” Eddie continued anyway, his heart spilling out everything he and Venom already knew, but despite that intimate connection, he still felt like vocalising it.

The Symbiote leaned forward to lick at his face comfortingly, and he huffed fondly.

Venom seemed to agree.

“But then that whole Life Foundation thing—you—meeting you changed me, too. Don’t ever think for a second that this was a one-way thing.”

His cheeks were pink, he knew, and Venom’s hand had moved from worshiping his body silently to teasing him, tracing distracting circles around his nipples as his cock slowly stirred to life beneath them.

“You made me so much more confident. I’m—”

Oh, god he’d been so lonely. So, so lonely, after Anne left, and now there they were, so closely intertwined it was difficult to tell where Eddie ended and Venom began.

“I guess I was lonely.”

It was hard to admit out loud, not that Venom wouldn’t have heard him in his thoughts thinking it, but Venom pulled away from him, his hands ceasing in their teasing to look at him tenderly.

**_So was I._ **

Two lonely souls, meeting each other in the vastness of the cosmos. It sounded like the poetic, romantic shit Anne sometimes read as a guilty pleasure, but right now, all the thought did was make affection blossom in Eddie’s chest.

“A-ahh, fuck this.” He muttered, wondering why was he getting embarrassed _now,_ of all times, looking away from Venom as he felt the Symbiote’s affection wrapping around his heart like a warm blanket. “Let’s just fuck already.”

 **_Make love._ ** Venom corrected him gently, but didn’t let Eddie speak again as he gently slid his tongue inside his mouth, smooth and warm and _wet,_ muffling Eddie’s moan as he felt Venom tease at the walls of his mouth with the tip of his tongue.

Oh, this felt _different._ There was a different air about this, now missing the haze of the heat that seemingly wore off a whole day ago, and if Eddie wasn’t any the wiser, he would have to say he’d felt something like this before.

By all means, the relationship he had before with Venom—his relationship with Anne—it was nothing short of fulfilling. They were happy, they were in love and on the way to tying the knot, and Eddie knew that there was still some part of his heart that loved Anne dearly. He knew this feeling, he’d felt it before, but he knew there was still some feeling of trepidation inside him.

He knew where _that_ came from.

Venom’s tongue slid out of his mouth on his prerogative, and Venom cocked his head at him as Eddie sat up, smiling fondly as the Symbiote pulled his hands out from under his shirt with such a sheepish grace that was completely unbecoming of a huge, hulking alien from space.

“Venom, hey,” he said, patting Venom’s cheek gently. “Don’t worry about this feeling. You’ve been telling me this whole time you love me, and you didn’t think that the feeling would stay the same way forever?”

Venom looked at him pleadingly, and Eddie couldn’t help but feel a rush of affection in his chest at the sight of him so _lost._ He was like this frequently when it came to human culture, charmingly lost and confused at the many things Eddie did in his day-to-day, and it only ever made Eddie love his Symbiote even more. “Okay, okay. This is what it feels like to have sex with someone you love.”

He paused at that, and laughed softly into the crook of Venom’s neck.

“Minus the part where we’re both crazy with that heat bullshit a while back.”

Venom blinked at him for a moment, before smiling slowly.

**_I understand._ **

And just like that, the trepidation was gone, the Symbiote leaning forward to kiss Eddie again as he let go of Eddie’s hand to run both his hands down Eddie’s body. He growled, pleased as he relished the feel of Eddie’s shiver under his palms as his hands traced over Eddie’s body tenderly again. They curled around the bottom of the man’s shirt, and Eddie nodded, letting Venom pull it off him before he reached down to undo his fly, wiggling his hips free of his underwear and his pants before Venom pulled them off the rest of the way.

Completely naked underneath him, Eddie knew he shouldn’t feel embarrassed by it—Venom was with him with or without clothes on, hell, they’d had sex several times now, but right now he felt hotter than ever before. He suddenly felt self-conscious, meekly withering away from Venom’s piercing gaze, but he couldn’t help the jolt he made when Venom took his hand and nuzzled his cheek against it.

 **_It’s different, like you said._ ** He said, **_Sex, with someone you love. On our own terms._ **

Eddie smiled at that, and shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He said, and let Venom pin his hand down into the mattress, fingers laced together. “So, what did you wanna do, big guy?”

 **_I wish I could kiss you._ **Venom replied, and Eddie’s cheeks grew darker.

“Well, you can try the next best thing.”

**_Great minds think alike._ **

Well, they were the _same_ mind, but Eddie’s thoughts flew out the window when Venom slid his tongue up his cheek. It wasn’t like the affectionate licks Venom gave him in place of kisses, no. This was slow, a drag of his tongue over his heated skin, and it shouldn’t have felt _that_ hot but it _did,_ and Eddie felt oversensitive, shivering from the feel of it against his skin.

Wet, hot. Firm.

Venom traced a path down the tendon in his neck into his collarbones, and he opened his maw to brush his teeth against the delicate skin there. Eddie flinched, his cock jolting back to life with an interested jerk, but this time Venom ignored it.

This time, he would do it slowly, with the grace he knew Eddie deserved.

He nibbled as gently as he could on Eddie’s collarbones, and finally tore a gasp from the man underneath him, grinning proudly.

**_Do you like my teeth?_ **

“ _God,_ Venom.” Eddie turned his head to bury his burning face into his pillow. “I… I like everything about you, okay?” He muttered something, and Venom cocked his head at him, before nibbling at Eddie’s collarbone again. “S _-shit!_ ” Eddie swore, jolting against the hold Venom had on his hands. The Symbiote laughed darkly—but Eddie didn’t feel anything malevolent from it.

 **_Speak up, Eddie._ **Venom’s voice was dripping with a grin, and he let Eddie go to smack him upside the head. The Symbiote laughed at that, and Eddie huffed.

“I _said,_ ”  he admitted flatly, “Yeah, I get off on the idea that you could kill me anytime. Happy?”

**_Very._ **

Eddie rolled his eyes. His Symbiote chuckled, lowering his head to slide his tongue lower, swirling around his left nipple. The man’s expression fell into a look of surprise, and he threw his head back in a gasp as Venom slowly wrapped his tongue around Eddie’s nipple, his other hand reaching for his other pectoral to squeeze it.

“V-Venom, oh _god—_ ”

**_So soft. I love these so much._ **

Eddie flinched as Venom leaned forward, rubbing his face between Eddie’s pectorals with a pleased purr, his tongue flicking his nipple teasingly. Pinned between his and Venom’s bodies, his cock gave an interested jerk, and he threw his head back with a moan at the friction against it, his hips stuttering forward to rut against Venom’s body on top of his. The Symbiote hardly minded, laving attention over Eddie’s pecs lovingly, tugging and teasing at his nipple until it was tender before moving on to the other one, tugging at it in a toe-curling sucking motion that had pleasure turning in Eddie’s gut.

He didn’t even know he could be so _sensitive._ He felt like his mind was melting away, and all he could do was pant and squirm helplessly against Venom’s unyielding bulk, until—

**_Oh?_ **

“H-huh?” Eddie blinked blearily, and looked down at Venom looking down at his pecs curiously. “Venom? What’s up, babe?”

The Symbiote pulled away slightly, and much to Eddie’s shock, pinched his nipples. Eddie shuddered at the sensation, oversensitive and tender, but then he realised something white squirted out of his nipples.

“Is—is that—”

**_It tastes so good, Eddie._ **

“W-wait, w-was that—was that _milk?_ ” Eddie stuttered, but all coherent thought went out the window as Venom lapped it all up, sucking his milk up with a contented hum that sent shivers running up and down Eddie’s spine. “Oh, _shit._ Oh, shit, oh shit, _oh shit._ ”

Barring his—once again—stellar commentary, Eddie was _definitely_ sure that while this went way beyond the realm of what he would consider _normal,_ this was firmly in the top ten of his top tens.

Holy shit, _who knew?_

Lactation. He was _pretty_ sure he knew why that was there—he had a Symbiote baby inside him, for crying out loud—but _damn,_ Symbiote biology was really pulling out all the stops for this, definitely. He didn’t think he’d be _lactating,_ of all things, but he _was_ in a heat not too long ago, and now he was _pregnant,_ so the milk-making wasn’t quite that far a stretch anymore.

Yeah, there was _no way_ Eddie was ever going to go back to a life of normalcy after this. Not that he even _wanted_ to.

 **_Milk, for the baby. Human biology is so fascinating._ ** Venom was lapping it up like a _dog,_ he thought, and he groaned as he felt Venom’s hands massaging his pecs, squeezing out all the milk he could he could get. **_I knew something was different. Your tits are bigger._ **

“Oh, thanks.” Eddie panted, trying to glare at Venom, but his dick, standing upright and weeping precum, told the both of them otherwise.

The Symbiote gave him a smirk, and Eddie bit back a whine as Venom swiped his tongue over his teeth as he stared him down hungrily.

 **_I can’t get enough of you, Eddie._ ** He said, the words seeping into Eddie’s heart that mixed with the pleasure that flooded the both of them as Venom slid down Eddie’s body, his hands still firmly cupped over his pecs. Purring in contentment he wrapped his tongue around Eddie’s neglected cock, and the man gasped, throwing his head back as that wet _heat_ wrapped around him again, sobbing in relief. **_I love you._ **

“A-ah, f-fuck,” Eddie stuttered, as Venom reached behind him to slide a tendril into him, slick with an inky blackness, warm and wet. He twitched as Venom carefully spread his legs with a grip behind his knees, and he almost sobbed when Venom pulled off him to watch as he stretched Eddie open with an almost curious expression on his face. Eddie felt his blush creep up his face but all he could do was watch his cock bob between his legs as Venom gently opened him up with a reverence that he’d never felt from the Symbiote before.

There was an odd sense of delicateness in the way Venom touched him, gently prying him open that sent a low burn under his skin dancing along his veins in butterfly-light steps. Venom crooned gently, nuzzling the sensitive skin along the inside of Eddie’s knees, and he sighed softly as he felt the slow burn spreading over his body, too.

**_I love you._ **

He kept saying it, as if it would lose its meaning if he never said it again. Eddie smiled slowly at that, past the distracting tug of pleasure at the sensation of being stretched open, his pectorals tender and tingling with the lingering feeling of Venom’s hands on them. He reached up to pull Venom’s head close, kissing his forehead softly.

“I love you too.”

Venom let out a pleased rumble, pulling out of Eddie to materialise his cock pressed against Eddie’s fluttering entrance, pulling away from him to look into his eyes.

 **_Please,_ ** he began, but Eddie simply nodded, pulling him in close to kiss him again.

 _Please,_ he thought, and Venom slid into him with a purr. Eddie winced as he felt himself stretch out around Venom’s true girth, and the Symbiote hesitated.

**_Eddie, am I hurting you?_ **

The man laughed fondly when he felt Venom grow smaller inside him, and he shook his head.

“Didn’t you say?” He said, “You’d never hurt me.”

He could feel the swell of Venom’s affection in their heart, as Venom’s thinner cock slid home, before swelling out again to its previous size, stretching Eddie out so sweetly as it firmly pressed against his prostate.

“Oh, _shit,_ ” He hissed, “ _Yes,_ god. Yes, that’s so good.”

 **_You’re so good, Eddie._ ** Venom nuzzled his cheek as he let Eddie adjust around him, waiting patiently as he felt the burn of the stretch melt into a comfortable feeling, pleasure buzzing around their head like the pleasant haze of alcohol.

He pulled out slowly, a pleased growl rumbling in his throat as Eddie sighed at the sensation of him pulling out until just the tip of his cock was inside, and paused.

“V-Venom?”

 **_You’re the world to me._ ** He said quietly, and slid back inside with a slow, almost agonising push, tearing a moan from Eddie’s throat. The man pulled away from his Symbiote to press his head against the pillow, panting heavily as he twitched slightly in helpless pleasure.

 **_You’ve changed me so much._ **His voice cracked at the edges, brittle over desire, over love. His hands, monstrous and large, were firm against Eddie’s skin, but so gentle to the touch, almost feather-light as more tendrils caressed Eddie lovingly.

 **_For the better, for the worse._ **Like an oath exchanged at the altar, like a golden band around a finger, a promise that once was.

That will be, even if it was between just the two of them. A promise wasn’t any less valid if made in front of two hearts than of four.

Slowly he rocked into Eddie’s body, and all any coherent thought dissolved into breathy gasps and trembling limbs that clung onto Venom as he slowly fucked into him. The agonising slide of his cock inside Eddie had a pressure building in him that was slow crawl of heat up from his gut, uncoiling like a sleeping beast rousing from sleep.

Sex like this was different, definitely. Nothing wild or desperate, nothing needy or hurried, but there was an odd intensity that amplified everything they felt. So intimately connected, Eddie could feel their sensations twice-fold, he could feel Venom’s pleasure crashing into his own until they formed a tsunami in his heart, tearing apart everything between them, all the walls, the insecurities—

God, it was so different when you were in love. Having sex like this, though not too terribly crazy, just the gentle, slow rocking of bodies together, oh, it was enough.

“I love you,” was all he managed, and Venom growled, rutting into him once, twice—before coming inside him with a little whine. Eddie laughed softly, kissing Venom’s head gently as Venom looked down at him sheepishly.

 **_You’re not done yet._ ** Venom said, and Eddie made a move to tell him it was alright—when the Symbiote moved down his body to wrap his tongue around his cock again, tearing a gasp from Eddie’s throat.

“S-shit, w-wait, I’m-I’m fine, Venom! I’m— _nngh!_ ”

Venom’s tongue tugged on his cock, and it jerked in interest as he began to stroke it with his tongue, purring as he began to gently rock his cock inside Eddie. The man choked back a gasp, his hands clapping in front of his mouth as his orgasm built and built, until the pressure was too much—

“ _Venom!_ ”

The Symbiote growled in delight, wrapping around the entirety of Eddie’s crotch to drink up his cum as he came, sucking him dry until the man whined from overstimulation.

 ** _I love you, Eddie._** Venom purred against him, wrapping around his body in a tender hug, and the man laughed tiredly, shaking his head fondly.

“You always say that.” He said, but turned to kiss Venom’s head.

 **_I’ve never said it to anyone else before._ ** The Symbiote looked so _stupidly_ endearing, cocking his head at him with an innocent smile on his face, and Eddie huffed fondly. **_I like telling it to you. Our heart skips and it’s a nice feeling._ **

“Sap.” Eddie said fondly. “C’mon, let’s go get ourselves cleaned up.”

Venom nodded, and Eddie was almost glad that he could finally think straight after orgasm. Together, they got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

* * *

 ** _Eddie?_ ** Venom asked, as Eddie rubbed his towel over his head, wandering over from the bathroom and into his bedroom, dressed in sweatpants and an old shirt. He hummed in acknowledgement, and the Symbiote slid out from under his skin to look him over. **_We should really have a look at our child._**

“Ah, shit, that’s right.” Eddie hissed, sitting down at the side of his bed to pick his phone up from the bedside table. “We should call Mary.”

 **_She’ll help us see it._ ** Venom agreed, and when Eddie made a move to place a call, he winced, doubling over in pain. The Symbiote beside him quickly wrapped himself around him in concern, hugging him tightly to calm him down. **_Eddie?_ **

His stomach lurched, before his abdomen suddenly squeezed _painfully,_ pain searing through his body a shuddering, horrifying bolt of lightning that set Eddie’s nerves on fire. The ache was almost unbearable—the muscles around his abdomen contracting _hard_ and relentlessly.

“S-shit, hold on,” The man panted, leaning against Venom heavily. “Body—hurts.”

 **_Hurts?_ ** Venom hissed, **_We have to see Mary. Now._ **

“Wait, hey now, Ven— _Venom!_ ”

The Symbiote wrapped around him, forming their fully mutualised body, and quickly Venom slipped out of the window, Eddie’s phone in his hand.

“ ** _Tell me what you’re feeling._** ” He said, climbing up the walls of the apartment complex easily, “ ** _Eddie?_** ”

 _Hold the phone._ The man’s voice groaned in their head. Venom didn’t feel the same ache as Eddie did—but he did feel a familiar tingle, an uncomfortable lump inside him that seemed like it was ready to come out, and for a moment both Symbiote and host couldn’t pin down _why._ They hadn’t done anything too extreme—the sex they just had was slow and tender, soft and yet so heated, and Venom was _sure_ he didn’t do anything that would harm their baby.

Unless.

_Unless._

Venom’s eyes widened as he came to a stop on the roof. “ ** _Eddie._** ”

 _Oh, my fucking. God._ Eddie’s voice was shaking. _We’re going into labor._

Venom growled, and hurried onward.

They _had_ to find Mary—they had to get to Life Foundation’s lab.

Their baby was coming.

* * *

It was nearing 10 in the evening when Mary heard from Eddie again, nervously fiddling with an inactive PS4 controller in her hand as she waited for her system to shut down. She dove for her phone with a gasp, and she hated herself with how desperately she grabbed it, answering with a panicked, “ _Hello?_ ”

“ _Mary? Kid, you okay?_ ” The man sounded exhausted, his voice shaking slightly, and for a moment Mary paused to wonder what was wrong with him. She held her tongue, though, and she shook her head.

I’ve been bothered about the thought of me seeing you as my father figure ever since this morning. She thought dryly. “I’m—I’m good. I’m doing okay.”

“ _Do you have anyone over?_ ”

She raised an eyebrow at that, and looked out the window. “No?” She ventured, getting up from where she had been sitting on top of a beanbag in front of the TV to approach her living room window. “What’s… what’s going on?”

“ _Could you, uh. Listen. We need to get to Life Foundation’s lab. Wherever it was you wanted to go._ ” Her eyes widened, and she pulled her phone away from her ear to look at it incredulously, before pressing it to her ear again. “ _—Nom and I have a… problem._ ”

“What seems to be the problem?” She asked, but suddenly Venom appeared at her window, one hand holding himself to her window, and the other hand holding onto a phone pressed next to an unfurled half of his face, where Eddie looked at her sheepishly. Mary gasped, letting out a scream as she dropped her phone to the ground, clattering quietly on top of her fluffy carpet. “V-Venom? Mister Brock?”

Eddie hung up, sliding back into Venom’s body as the Symbiote covered him up again, and Venom rapped their knuckles against her window. Mary jumped, and she nodded, opening it to let them in. Quickly she scooped her phone up from the ground as she moved back away from them, and Venom stepped into her apartment, straightening up with a huff.

“ ** _Little girl._** ” He said.

“23.” She replied meekly, holding her phone close to her chest. “Wait—so you’re taking up my offer? You’re gonna let me look at the two of you at Life Foundation?”

“ ** _More than that, really._** ” Venom said dryly, and Mary blinked at him. “ ** _Just come with us._** ” He made a move to pick her up, when Mary held her hand out at him.

“No _freaking_ way am I heading out there in _this!_ I don’t even have pants on!” She gasped.

Venom’s eyes narrowed at her. “ ** _Hurry up, then. Eddie’s in pain._** ”

Her eyes widened, and Venom jerked his head at her.

“R-right!” Mary nodded, her pigtails bouncing. “I’m going, I’m going!”

She hurried into her room, the door clicking shut behind her, and Venom sighed, unwrapping from around Eddie to look at him.

His face was pale, and he was sweating. Panting, he fell forward to lean against Venom, who quickly moved to support him, rubbing a tendril over his back tenderly.

“Fuck, Venom, it really. _Hurts._ ” he winced, his hands balling into fists on top of Venom’s body, and the Symbiote licked his cheek comfortingly. “Is this what women feel? _Jesus Christ._ ”

**_Be strong, Eddie. I love you._ **

The man gave him a withering smile, and Venom wrapped around him again, just in time for Mary to emerge from her room, dressed in a new blouse and pants, a much bigger sling bag over her shoulder. Almost as an afterthought, she hurried across the living room to return her PS4 controller to the side.

“Let’s go,” she said, looking up at Venom, and the Symbiote nodded, picking her up to head out the window.

* * *

“So I was thinking we’d go in through the docking bay.”

Mary sat on Venom’s shoulder, his thick arm holding her down by her thighs against himself as she raised her arm to keep her hair from flying into her face.

“The entrance to the whole place is closed down like mad right now, thanks to the company basically dying out, I’m sure as hell it’ll be guarded closely. Plenty of trespassers would _love_ to wander a condemned place as big as Life Foundation HQ.”

Venom, with Mary on his shoulder, stood underneath the rapport of the bridge across Life Foundation’s building, and the Symbiote hummed.

“ ** _That place has a docking bay?_** ” Venom asked, and she nodded.

“Sometimes we get stuff coming in by the sea. There’s a marine research subdivision there, though for the life of me I have no idea _why_ or _how_ Mister Drake could fund that.”

“ ** _Eddie says it’s all the underground connections._** ”

Mary frowned. “Yeah, that seems to be the case.”

The alien shifted on his feet, steadying himself. “ ** _There’s a ship coming close, we’re gonna hitch a ride._** ”

“Sounds about right to me.” Mary nodded, but then she paused. “We’re… not going to kill anyone, are we?”

Venom flashed her a toothy grin, and she withered under his gaze. The Symbiote’s grin slid off his face, and he shook his head.

“ ** _Ugh, fine._** ” he said, and she smiled slowly. “ ** _Eddie doesn’t want me to, either._** ”

“Thanks.” she said, and patted his head. “C’mon, we’d better get going.”

Venom lowered her into his arms in an easier carry, and the young woman held on to him with a worried expression on her face. Much to her surprise, Venom pressed his hand down on her head once reassuringly, but before she could say anything about it, he leapt up high.

She couldn’t scream—they had to be quiet, so she buried her face in the alien’s chest, and hoped for the best.

Mary kept her eyes closed as she felt Venom bound over several things—boat masts, rocks, a buoy—and she only opened them when he landed at last on solid ground with a huff, shaking her slightly to catch her attention again. She looked up from where she was clinging onto Venom like a koala to realise they were standing on an outdoor pad, a single pole railing blocking them off from falling into the ocean below them.

“Oh, let me down,” she said, and Venom did as he was told, gently setting her down onto the ground to let her regain her bearings, looking around. “Right, I think I’ve been back here before…”

She walked onwards, following the platform down its path until they got to an emergency exit door. She tried turning the valve keeping it shut, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Damn,” Mary shook her head. She looked up at Venom over her shoulder, and he nodded at her, stepping past her to grab the door by the hinges. “Wait, Venom—”

With a roar, he ripped it off the hinges, and tossed the door into the ocean. He looked back at her with a smirk, and she sighed, shaking her head exasperatedly.

“Yeah, I bet you’re proud of yourself, aren’t you.” She deadpanned, and strode inside, Venom at her heels.

They didn’t like the sight of being back here, Venom had to admit. Inside him Eddie also lurched uncomfortably as familiar hallways came back to them, and Venom purred at him comfortingly.

This was hard, but they needed this.

 _The baby_ needed this.

“Here we go!” Mary declared, and they came to a stop at a room that slowly flooded with light as Mary switched light switches along the wall. Much to Venom’s surprise, it looked like an operating room, and a set of ominous-looking sensors loomed over the gurney in the middle of the room. Immediately Venom hissed, moving back away from her suspiciously, and Mary jumped, holding her hands up defensively. “I swear, I’m not gonna hurt you!” She looked over at the gurney, and sighed. “Please, just go over there. I’ll do my best not to use sonic equipment, I promise.”

Venom made a move to protest, but Eddie spoke up in their head.

_C’mon, Venom. Just let her. I can’t really take this much pain anymore._

Reluctantly Venom lay them down on the gurney, and slid away from around Eddie. Mary looked at him, and gasped.

“Whoa, Mister Brock. You look like shit.”

“Thanks, kid.” Eddie bit out past the pain. “Hey, so, uh. What’re you gonna do?”

“Normally I’d go for ultrasound, but I don’t know if that’ll be any good for you or Venom.” She frowned, bustling around him busily as she got equipment set up. After a while of humming and tugging at things, Mary walked up to his side, and looked apologetic. “Sorry, Mister Brock, I’m gonna have to strap you down.”

Eddie shrugged, easily offering his hands for her, and gingerly she strapped him down to the gurney, unmindful of the sound of Venom’s uneasy growling looming above them.

She didn’t like the silence between them, so she spoke again. “I’ve seen from Dr. Skirth’s data that Symbiotes are weak to high frequency sound waves, and I really wanna avoid hurting Venom, so the ultrasound is a no-go.”

“What’re you gonna do to me, then?” Eddie asked.

Mary scratched her cheek, and then gestured at a set of satellite disk-like sensors hanging from the ceiling. “We do have this laser imaging device, it’ll give me at least a good idea where your organs are, so if there’s anything that’s out of place, or—”

“ ** _Can you get the baby out?_** ” Venom spoke through Eddie’s mouth, and Mary stopped completely, her eyes widening as she whirled around to look at them in horror.

“Baby?” She echoed, “What— _what baby?_ ”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Listen, kid, just do what you have to, because I am _losing_ my _mind_ at how much my body’s hurting right now—”

“How’d he even get you pregnant?” Mary’s voice was shrill, and Eddie winced.

“ ** _Sex. We had sex. A lot of it._** ” Venom said, a-matter-of-factly, and Eddie’s cheeks burned.

“Not in front of our little kid, darling…” He muttered.

“I _know_ how people have sex!” Mary huffed, “I mean, _I’m not into it,_ but I _do_ know how babies are made—”

“Now you’ve gone and done it!” Eddie cut her off. God, it was one thing detailing to Dan, a physician, his sex life, another to be detailing his wild monster sex life to a Not-A-PhD young woman who looked 16. “Venom, darling, you’ve corrupted our little girl!”

“I’m _23!_ ”

God, Eddie would have laughed right now. Almost did, actually, but then he flinched when his whole abdominal region contracted painfully again. “A-ah, _fuck,_ Mary, kid, _do something—_ ”

His words cut off into a scream, and Mary gasped, jumping away from the gurney as Eddie began to convulse, struggling against his restraints. Somewhere at the back of her mind, Mary was grateful she had the man strapped down, but at the same time, something in her chest clenched painfully at the sight of him like this—strapped down, pained— _suffering._

She squeezed her eyes shut, shivering as her hands shot up to her ears, but his voice still echoed through the room in a haunting sound that sent shivers racing up and down her spine.

No, she didn’t want this—no, this was too familiar—

It was too much, far too much, as Eddie’s screams tore her away from the examination room, dragging her back into her old department’s side of Life Foundation, shoving her back in her old lab gown as she stood rooted into place.

Suddenly, it wasn’t in the middle of the night, in the middle of a shoddy operation to see an alien baby inside a man that was far too uncomfortably close to what she wanted in a father—

And instead, it was in the middle of the day, the sun shining, birds singing—

Mary’s stomach lurched. But she wasn’t having a good time—no, _far from it._

 _“Well done,”_ Drake had smiled placidly at her, hand on her head, as in front of them the man with the bag over his head writhed on the ground, his voice tearing at the seams as he screamed bloodcurdling murder. There was nothing incriminating on him on how he died—no knife wounds, no blood on the ground—

Nothing, save for an innocent little patch slapped right over his jugular.

 _“Your administration patches are nothing short of a miracle invention.”_ He continued, _“Like the touch of a goddess, so convenient. Instant.”_

Oh, she’d killed someone. This man was dying, and it was _her_ fault for making those god-damned biopatches in the first place.

The white little square melted into the man’s skin, and he finally went deathly ill. Right where his mouth was supposed to be, blood soaked through the bag on his head.

Drake’s plastic smile filled her vision, and tears prickled Mary’s eyes.

_“I’m so proud of you, my girl. Your father is a lucky man to have such a model daughter.”_

He poked her cheek, a facsimile of affection.

_“Obedient. Silent. And above all, excellent.”_

The man’s screams still echoed in her head. They blended with Eddie’s screams, and Mary sank to her knees.

_“All for the pursuit of knowledge. Well done, Mary.”_

Oh, why had she stayed? Oh, _why?_

“ ** _Mary!_** ” Venom roared at her, and she snapped back to attention.

Suddenly she wasn’t in the past again, turning 20 and oh so foolishly blind, so foolishly desperate to follow in her idol’s footsteps, willing to stop at nothing to become someone like Dora Skirth one day. A murderer, unwitting she may be, a _child._ Taking a life right before her eyes.

Suddenly she was 23, wisened, depressed and a different woman, jaded to the point she was doubting everything, even herself.

A _scientist,_ damn it, and today, she was going to save someone’s life.

Her hands balled into fists, and she shot up onto her feet.

“R-right!” She nodded, and leapt back to a terminal nearby, typing rapidly into the keyboard as the gurney lifted off the ground, moving closer to a set of sensors that all pointed towards them. Venom trembled inside Eddie, though he could barely feel it, the contractions overriding all his senses as all Eddie could think about was pain.

 _Pain—_ like the sensation he remembered when he looked into Venom’s memories.

Pain, as a living being died right around him, blood and fluid rushing into organs so quickly devoured by a frightened, hurt Symbiote who could only do all he could to survive—

“I’m sorry, Mister Brock! Venom!”

Suddenly there was an ear-piercing, shrieking noise. It grated on Eddie’s nerves, stabbing right into his ears, through his head, and he let out a scream as his hands shot up to his ears in an attempt to protect them. Venom bellowed, roaring powerfully as suddenly he and Eddie were separated violently from each other, the Symbiote shooting out of Eddie’s chest to slam against the wall—

And then another, smaller bluish-grey blob jumped out of him too, and right into a mason jar that Mary had ready, sealing it shut as the awful, _horrible_ sound suddenly stopped. Immediately Venom zoomed back into Eddie’s body, crooning and whining fearfully as the gurney slowly descended to the ground, the three of them falling bonelessly to the ground in relief as Eddie’s bonds fell away from his arms and legs.

Eddie lay back against the gurney with a sigh, feeling Venom flood his body again in that familiar, looming presence he grew used to, throwing his arm over his eyes in relief when he realised the pain was gone. The lingering pressure in his chest, on his mind and his body was also gone, and it felt like pulling out a stubborn thorn from out of his skin.

God, what a relief.

Now he could understand why mothers would swear to hell and back they’d never give birth ever again, only to come out after wanting another pregnancy soon.

Which then reminded him—

“What the _fuck,_ did I just give birth?” He said aloud, and he peered out from under his arm to look at Mary, who was barely sitting up from where she was sitting, slumped over to stare at something in her hands. “Mary? Kid, you alright?”

“H-huh?” She looked up at him, and Eddie’s eyes widened to realise that her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “O-oh, um.” She sniffled, and wiped her cheeks with the back of her wrist. Her hands were shaking, and on her lap was a mason jar with a writhing little mass of bluish-grey. Mary held it up with her free hand, and smiled meekly. “Congratulations.”

“Is that…”

**_Our child!_ **

Venom was antsy, eager to see the new Symbiote spawn, but he wasn’t moving inside him. Eddie couldn’t feel him moving under his skin, through his blood—Venom must have been _exhausted,_ and so Eddie had to pull their body himself, wincing as his own exhaustion kept him from moving. His limbs felt weak, wobbly and shaking with fatigue as he tried to sit up, but it was useless. All he could do was collapse against the gurney again, looking at her helplessly.

“Here you go, Mister Brock.” Mary smiled, shakily getting up onto her feet to stumble over to them, handing Eddie the mason jar gently. When the jar was safely in Eddie’s hands, Mary fell to her knees again, and the man jolted.

“Mary!” He gasped, “Jesus, kid, you alright?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Mary shook her head, and heaved herself up onto her feet again. “Sorry about earlier. The scans were telling me you were well on your way to a cardiac arrest, so I had to separate the both of you.”

“Damn…” Eddie ran his hand through his hair, and looked down at the mason jar he was holding. “So this is it, huh…”

“Yeah,” Mary sighed. “According to the scans, it was already eating away at your organs.”

The man gaped at her. “It was… eating me?”

“Yeah, I mean, I think it had to.” She replied meekly, looking down at the jar. “I’m guessing that since Symbiotes don’t have an umbilical cord or a yolk source, the baby needed to have a source of nutrition the moment it got out.”

**_You._ **

“Yeah, me.” Eddie winced, and shook his head. “So, uh. Why aren’t I dead?”

Mary peered at the screens beyond them, and frowned.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t understand why or how you’re regenerating the lost organs at such a rapid pace.” She said, “But that’s what’s happening right now.”

Eddie smiled at that slightly, and he patted his stomach.

“That’s Venom.” He said, and finally, the Symbiote slid out from under his skin to grin at the both of them.

“ ** _Our child. Where is it?_** ” he asked, and Eddie held up the mason jar. Mary’s eyes widened to see Venom’s expression soften at it. She smiled softly as the Symbiote lowered his head to rub it against the jar, crooning softly.

“That’s…” Mary shook her head. “That’s kinda adorable.”

“ ** _I can’t hear it, but it’s reassuring to see it there._** ” Venom looked at her. “ ** _How did you know to bring an airtight container?_** ”

At that Eddie blinked, and realised that Venom was right—Mary didn’t find out until it was too late that they were pregnant, so why did she need to bring the jar?

“Oh, well,” She rubbed the back of her head, “I was… this is gonna sound so bad, but I, um. I brought it because of you, Venom.”

The Symbiote blinked at her, and she deflated.

“I just—” she took a shaky breath. “I’ve seen the footage of the tests Dr. Skirth and her team did on the Symbiotes. I’ve seen what they’ve done to their hosts, even long after mutualising, I just…”

Mary lowered her head.

“For a moment, I thought Venom was gonna hurt you, Mister Brock.” She confessed. “So I brought that along with me so I could store Venom somewhere in the case I had to get him out of you.”

She turned pink. “I, um… don’t want you to die, Mister Brock.”

Eddie and Venom blinked at her, and much to her surprise, the Symbiote reached out to bump his forehead against Mary’s.

“ ** _You should’ve brought a bigger jar._** ” He said bemusedly, and her eyes widened at him. “ ** _There’s no way I would fit in this tiny one._** ”

“You…”

“ ** _I would rather die than hurt Eddie._** ” He said, and the man blushed in embarrassment. “ ** _Thank you for worrying about him._** ”

Mary smiled slowly at that, and nuzzled Venom’s head to feel him purr in appreciation.

“You’re… you’re welcome.”

Eddie huffed fondly at them, and ruffled Mary’s hair. The young woman laughed, but the moment was cut short when they heard a voice in the distance, and the rush of footsteps.

“Hey!”

The three of them jolted, jumping in alarm, as somewhere beyond the operating room, they could hear a group of people approaching. “This is the police! You’re on condemned property!”

Mary opened her mouth to gasp, but Venom quickly wrapped a tendril around her mouth, shutting her up effectively. Eddie quickly thrust the jar into the young woman’s hands while Venom picked up her bag, tossing the strap over her shoulder.

“C’mon,” Eddie said, and Mary gaped at them as Venom wrapped around him, forming their merged body once more. “ ** _We’d better get out of here._** ”

“R-right.” She nodded, and he picked her up.

“ ** _Hold on tightly to the child._** ” Venom said, and she nodded again, clinging to him tightly, bracing for whatever was coming, pressing the jar close to her heart as she shivered. The Symbiote stopped for a moment, and smiled slightly, pressing her close to their heart as she sandwiched the mason jar between her chest and Venom’s. “ ** _We’ll protect you._** ”

Mary couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Thanks,” she said meekly, “I feel safer already.”

Venom wrapped himself around her too, cocooning her safely against his chest.

_Buddy, better get ready for a fight._

Venom grinned widely, and he popped the joints in his neck.

“ ** _We've been waiting for this._** ” He said, and immediately went on alert when they heard the footsteps right outside. In their arms, Mary jumped, squeaking slightly. “ ** _Let’s get our children out of here._** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway kingdom hearts 3 is coming out in literally a little over a month im losing my mind
> 
> mickey mouse is riku's dad and mary was playing re:chain of memories reverse/rebirth hd remix. i know that's not the real title, i don't give a fuck


	5. family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes together as everything falls apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> h
> 
> i don't have to explain myself...
>
>> the symbrock people on ao3: p-please..... eating for two..... update....  
>  me, sticking my fingers into my ears: what the fuck, another whole ass page of hankcon! let's get it!
>> 
>> — ⭕️ bukkun @ nines detroit’s giant tits (@trickscd) [10 January 2019](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1083191820547383297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> blame hank and connor, not me...

Mandrake could feel the buzz of champagne high in his blood. He giggled slightly at something Lotus said, and he could only focus on that oddly tender smile they had on their face, the way their voice softened whenever they reminisced about their past together.

“Man, what happened,” Mandrake hiccuped slightly. “It doesn’t feel like that long ago when we were classmates in college, and now,” he made a vague gesture at Lotus, “Here you are, CEO, making something out of nothing while all I,” he poked himself in the temple. “All I do is break computers and stare at sheets all day.”

“Oh, come now.” Lotus shook their head, laughing behind their hand. “You mean more than you know.” They leaned forward, their chin on their hand. “For instance, your connection with Eddie Brock.”

The mention of Eddie’s name immediately got Mandrake to sober up, and he pulled away from Lotus, swallowing nervously. “Um, what about it?”

Lotus smiled at him, that fake plastic smile that they always wore in public, and Mandrake was immediately set on edge.

“I was just curious,” they replied. “For you to be contacting me out of the blue for Eddie Brock himself—why would he need you? Couldn’t he have just gone and talked to me himself?”

Mandrake smiled at them wryly. “Would you have let him?”

Lotus’s smile grew an edge that Mandrake was careful to step around.

“Fair.” They replied, “So why did he seek you out?”

“I used to work for Life Foundation.” Lotus raised an eyebrow at him, and he waved them off. “Marketing. I told you, I wasn’t _that_ interesting, but he did want me looking for other constituents Life Foundation had worked with.”

“And that’s how you found us.” Lotus said, and Mandrake nodded. They paused for a moment, and sighed fondly. “John, why don’t you come work with me?”

Mandrake paused at that, and he cocked his head at them.

“What… do you mean?”

“Work with me.” Lotus repeated, poking Mandrake’s nose. “I’m already subscribed to your Patreon, this is the next logical step.”

“Y-you’re _what?_ ” Mandrake stammered, turning bright red, and Lotus chuckled. “ _Lotus!_ ”

“I’m sorry, I really did keep an eye on you even after we separated in college.” They admitted. “I do try to watch your streams, you know.”

Mandrake hid his face behind his hands, flustered, and Lotus laughed softly. Suddenly Rosa was behind them, and they looked up at him, eyebrows raised. Mandrake watched him lean down to whisper something in Lotus’s ear, and the CEO sighed.

“Sorry, John, I have to do something for a moment.” They said, giving him an apologetic smile as they got up. “I’ll be right back.”

Mandrake could only watch as they left with Rosa, and then he realised they left their phone behind on the table. His eyes widened at it, and he looked at their retreating back.

He thought back to Atropine, and Eddie.

Now matter how much he liked Lotus, he couldn’t just let what they were doing—whatever the _hell_ it was—just slide past him. Taking a sharp breath, he snatched their phone off the table, and looked through it.

Messages, first.

Mandrake’s expression tightened as he read through their latest messages—meeting with the SFPD? After this dinner? _This late?_ This didn’t sound _right._

He scrolled through more of their messages, a lot of them from unnamed numbers, but he found a single address somewhere near the dock area. He bit his lip, taking a quick photo of it with his phone, before scrolling up, and his eyes widened.

“Atropine.” He breathed, “They’re… they’re really involved with this.”

He hesitated, and shook his head. Quickly he took more photos of the messages, his hands shaking, and when he saw the door Lotus left through move, he practically threw their phone back on the spot where they left it.

Lotus strode through the door with a confident stride, and Mandrake couldn’t quite meet their eye as they sat down, cocking their head at him.

“John?” They asked, and Mandrake shook his head. Their expression fell slightly, but Mandrake had to push through their suspicion.

“You told me you watch my streams.” He said, and they blinked at him. “What game do you want me to play next time?”

Lotus was quiet for a moment, before leering at him.

“ _Detroit: Become Human._ ”

“I’m going home.” Mandrake stated flatly, and Lotus burst out laughing. Mandrake couldn’t help but dissolve into laughter, too, but he really couldn’t ignore the guilt that crept up his throat, despite everything. The easy laughter, the warmth they shared—he had to give all that up.

Lotus looked back at him with bright eyes, and the knife in Mandrake’s gut twisted.

“You wouldn’t.” Lotus chuckled. “But you’re right, that’s a bad game.” They said, leaning their chin on laced fingers. “Let’s see, then. I wonder what else you could do on stream?”

Expose you, Mandrake thought to himself, and pushed those thoughts down.

“ _Kingdom Hearts?_ ”

“Ooh, fun. Tell me what you have planned for it.”

Mandrake peered at the fancy grandfather clock inside the restaurant, and swallowed. This was going to be a _long_ night, but he had to check out that address, and soon. He had to at least make sure to look for it while Lotus was at their meeting.

“Well, uh, let’s see…”

* * *

With a firm shove, the door was suddenly knocked down, and a swarm of men in Kevlar rushed inside.

They came to an empty room, equipment still live and thrumming quite literally left alone seconds ago, and their squad leader called for them to come to a halt, looking around cautiously at the small room.

There wasn’t much else for anyone to hide.

“Simmons, Green, check the cabinets. Hamilton, the gurney.” He ordered, and the three men nodded, carefully approaching the spots before throwing them aside to reveal there was no one hiding behind them. The squad leader clicked his tongue.

“They couldn’t have gone far!” He barked, “Search the area, we’re looking for at least two people, a man and a woman!”

The officer at the rear suddenly felt something drip on his head, and he frowned thoughtfully as he looked up—

“ ** _Boo._** ” Venom leered, and lunged forward with a roar. The man screamed as he was torn apart, a smoke bomb going off on his belt as Venom’s teeth clamped over it.

Pandemonium. The officers scattered, flashlights coming on as guns were cocked, and for a moment there was an eerie stillness—

And suddenly Venom lunged out of the smoke again, attacking another man near the door. One of his arms shot out into a two-pronged spear that impaled two more people to the wall, sending one of the laser imaging sensors crashing to the ground. It pulled along the rest of the assembly, tearing out wires from the ceiling.

The lights flickered once, twice—and died, plunging the room into darkness, where the only source of light was the door leading out of the room.

“Keep yourselves together!” The squadron leader barked, but suddenly two more of his men were thrown back further into the darkness. “Shit—!”

Suddenly a huge hand grabbed him by his chest, and he was dragged forward to come face-to-face with the monster, leering down at him with a smirk that warped around rows and rows of pointy teeth, dripping with blood and saliva.

A long, tapered tongue slithered out of his maw ominously.

“ ** _Who sent you?_ ** ” He snarled. “ ** _This is too much firepower for just the police._** ”

Eddie told him that—the guns, the Kevlar, the uniforms—this wasn’t just the police. They were too heavily armed, too powerful in force.

The man sneered at him.

“Won’t you like to know?”

Venom roared into his face, the room shaking ominously, and suddenly the lights switched on to reveal a devastated room. Half-eaten corpses lay among ruined equipment and furniture, and the man paled as one of Venom’s tendrils slammed against the wall next to him.

“ ** _Who are you working for. Now._** ” He growled, “ ** _Or you’ll be dessert._** ”

“Atropine!” the man’s voice shook. “Atropine sent us!”

Venom hesitated there, and inside him Eddie grimaced.

_Atropine. Somehow I feel like Belladonna really is tied to this, and it’s not just because of the name._

For now, though, they had to get out of there—secure the baby, chase the shadows into the night.

“ ** _Thanks._** ” Venom snarled, and the man breathed a shaky sigh of relief—

“ ** _Bon appetit._** ” He leered, and the last thing the man saw was an open maw framed with rows upon rows of teeth.

* * *

Lotus watched as Mandrake got in a taxi and headed in the opposite direction of his apartment, and sighed. They turned to Rosa, who looked at them with a raised eyebrow, as if to go ‘ _I told you so._ ’

“You’re right, Rosa.” They said, leaning against their bodyguard. “Just… don’t hurt him.”

“You know how dangerous he could be to this operation, right?”

“Yes,” they huffed, “But I like him too much.”

Rosa rolled his eyes. “Fine.” he said, getting up from his seat. “And Eddie Brock?”

“I could care less. Just bring me John and the Symbiote, alive, please.” Lotus smiled. “That’s all that matters.”

Rosa bowed his head, and headed out of Lotus’s office. The CEO sighed, and leaned back in their seat as a video call patched through.

“Ah, Captain.” they smiled, plastering on that plastic smile on their face again, “So, about tomorrow’s delivery of Atropine biopatches…”

* * *

Mary only opened her eyes again when she felt Venom shift around her. Inside the Symbiote, though not deep enough to be with Eddie, not a single sound pierced the seamless black cover that served as her and the baby Symbiote’s protective cover. When she felt it move, she opened her eyes to see light trickling into her vision again, and she felt Venom shift her back into his arms before gently setting her down on a familiar couch.

“Are we… in Mister Brock’s apartment?” She asked, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light, looking around to find the answer to her question.

“Yeah,” Eddie said, and she turned again to see Venom slide away from him, though not completely disappearing under his skin, moving over to look at the mason jar still cupped delicately in her hands. “Sorry, we can’t let you out of our sight, the baby’s too important.”

“I—I perfectly understand.” She nodded, and looked down to watch Venom nuzzle the bottle tenderly. She smiled at that, and stroked the glass with her thumb. “Who went after us?”

“Atropine.” Eddie replied, and she jolted, looking up at him with wide eyes. He met her gaze sternly, and nodded. “Looks like these investigations are much more related than we realised.”

“But how did they think to come to Life Foundation?” Mary asked, “They couldn’t have known we were there! _Why_ did they even go after us?”

“Maybe it’s just coincidence,” Eddie paused, and frowned, shaking his head. “Nah, it can’t be that simple…”

Suddenly his phone rang, and he jumped. Mary hugged the bottle close to herself instinctively, letting Venom wrap himself around the two of them in a comforting hold while Eddie hurried over to his phone, grumbling softly to himself.

“Who is it?” She asked, when he looked at the screen, and he scowled.

“Mandrake.” He replied, and Venom turned to look at him.

“ ** _What does he want?_** ” He asked, but Eddie hushed him as he answered.

“It’s almost 11, Mandrake, this better be important.”

“ _S-sorry, Mr. Brock,_ ” He sounded out of breath, and an uneasy feeling crawled over Eddie’s gut. “ _I just—I discovered something. And I’m, uh, a little trapped right now._ ”

“Trapped?” Eddie echoed, setting his phone to loudspeaker to set it down on the coffee table, taking a seat heavily next to Mary. “The hell do you mean?”

“ _I’m._ ” A crash, and then a muffled curse. They could hear the sound of rushing footsteps behind Mandrake, and Mary’s brow furrowed as Eddie’s frown deepened. “ _I’m currently in a warehouse somewhere near a dock. I don’t know, but I can smell the sea. I’m, um. A little bit earlier tonight, Lotus invited me over for a dinner to catch up, they said._ ”

At that, Eddie’s eyebrows shot up. “Lotus? Like, Belladonna Cosmetics Lotus?”

“ _Y-yeah. It was a good time for a while, until their bodyguard Rosa showed up to chat with them for a sec. Something important about business, they said. So I. Um._ ”

“C’mon, Mandrake, what did you do?”

“ _I snooped on their phone._ ”

Venom grinned slightly, and nudged Eddie’s side.

**_I like this guy._ **

Eddie grinned back at him, and nodded.

“Find anything?”

“ _Y-yeah, an address. I thought—I thought I could go check it out before I told you about it, but—_ ”

Distantly, they heard voices— _Rosa’s_ voice was one of them, and Eddie straightened up in alarm. They heard Mandrake gasp in alarm, and then there was running—they could hear his hurried footsteps, the panicked breathing.

“Shit,” Eddie hissed, “What did he get himself into?”

Mary withered nervously, hugging the jar tighter to herself. “Mister Brock…”

“ _Fuck! Okay, okay, shit, I’m fine, I’m fine._ ” The sound of Mandrake’s voice was a welcome relief, and Mary sighed, melting against Eddie’s side while the man remained tensely staring at his phone on the table.

“Mandrake! Jeez, shit, where are you? Why didn’t you bring the police or something?”

“ _How could I? Atropine_ is _the police, Mr. Brock!_ ” Mandrake hissed. “ _When I looked through Lotus’s phone, I saw that they had a meeting with the police chief right after our dinner! At 10! What kind of beauty product CEO goes off meeting—fuck!_ ”

“Get the hell out of there first, Mandrake!” Eddie snapped, wincing at the sound of clattering metal and the telltale sound of _‘there he is!’_ ringing in the background.

“ _Sorry, sorry! I can’t keep up this call, I gotta send you my location instead._ ” Mandrake said, “ _Mr. Brock, if I don’t make it—_ ”

“Shut the hell up, kid,” Eddie cut him off, “I’m coming to get you.”

“ _But, sir!_ ”

“Don’t worry about it. You can explain yourself when you’re safe and out of there, jerkass.” He replied. “Send me your location.”

“ _O-okay. I’m counting on you, Mr. Brock._ ” Mandrake said, and hung up. Eddie shot to his feet, and looked at Venom.

“C’mon,” he barked, jerking his head, but much to his surprise, Venom refused to move. “Venom?” He squinted at the Symbiote, who was still wrapped around Mary and the jar in her lap.

 **_Mary and our child._ ** He said. **_They have to go somewhere safe first._ **

Eddie bit his lip, and he shook his head.

“Venom, I—”

**_Eddie, please._ **

He sighed. “I know a place.” Eddie looked at his phone, which pinged the arrival of Mandrake’s location, and he looked at Mary apologetically. “C’mon, kid. You’re coming with us.”

Numbly, Mary nodded, and brought the jar with her as she followed Eddie and Venom out the door.

* * *

“Eddie? It’s almost 11PM?”

Anne sat up in bed, rubbing sleep out of her eyes as she turned the lamps on by her bedside table. She scratched her head, wincing at the sudden light as in her ear Eddie laughed weakly.

“ _Yeah, I know. My bad. It’s just—um, I’ve got an emergency?_ ”

 _That_ woke Anne up. Quickly she got out of bed to pull a silk night robe on, absently tying the ribbon around her midsection.

“What emergency? Are you okay?” She asked, and he hummed.

“ _Well, uh, could you just open the door?_ ”

Anne’s eyes widened, and she hurried to the door to open it, blinking up at Eddie in surprise.

“You look like shit.” She said intelligently, and she quickly blamed her sleepiness on the fact. Not that she really ever had to be delicate with Eddie—not during their relationship, not after it, and she knew he appreciated it—her frankness. A long time ago it would have made her smile, seeing Eddie visit her out of the blue on a Friday night like this, but she knew something was wrong.

She’s been feeling it, really, since Dan’s promotion. There was something _different_ about Eddie, and she should know—they’d been together for years, and she knew him like the back of her hand.

It made her wonder, sometimes, if they were really off better as best friends than as lovers. From the look of things, it really did seem that way, especially when Eddie flashed her a tired smile.

“Thanks, Anne, love you too.” he deadpanned, and she stepped aside to let him in, her eyes widening when she saw a young woman following after him timidly, holding a mason jar close to her heart. Eddie jerked his thumb at her over his shoulder. “This is Mary. Figures you should kinda know her.”

“She does?” Mary asked, and Anne gave her a lopsided smile as Eddie plopped himself on her couch.

Well, it used to be _their_ couch, but Anne was past thinking that. Mary remained standing up next to Eddie awkward in the way she carried herself, and Anne gestured for her to sit down next to Eddie, at least. Mary gave her a meek smile, and did as she was told.

“Kinda.” Anne admitted, “I’ll explain it to you later. I’m Anne. Anne Weying.” She offered her hand for Mary to shake, and Mary shook it with a surprisingly firm handshake. The older woman offered her a kind smile before turning her attention away from her.

“You,” She said, putting her arms akimbo, and looked down at Eddie. “What’s this all about?” She demanded, and Eddie looked sheepish.

“So, the operation that had me chasing after Belladonna, right,” he said, and she nodded, already dreading the direction this conversation was headed in. “Well, looks like I was right in that they’ve got _something._ ”

Anne sighed heavily, and dropped herself down on the armchair across him. “What is it now. Is it like Life Foundation? They got some alien project or some shit like that?”

Eddie gave her a wry smile, and she buried her face in her hands.

“ _Not this again._ ”

“Well, I was gonna say they’re linked to a bioweapons terrorist group, but that also sounds really plausible.” Anne’s head shot up from her hands at that, and Eddie’s smile slid off his face. “They’ve got one of my guys. I’ve gotta go help him.”

“Eddie, that’s—” she shook her head, “Without your buddy, you wouldn’t be able to do that! At least call the police!”

Mary looked uncomfortable, and Eddie looked at her, before patting her knee reassuringly. Somewhere at the back of her mind, Anne thought that they really did resemble a father and his daughter. Odd thought, really, but she could see it working. Somehow.

“That’s… another thing.” he said, and Anne blinked at him. “I know you really well, Anne, you know it as well as I do.”

“Oh.” She breathed. “Oh, _god._ ”

Venom slid out from under Eddie’s skin, and grinned at her.

“ ** _Hi, Anne._** ” he said, and Anne sighed exasperatedly, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“How did you…” She shook her head, “You know what, never mind. You know, Eddie, I had a feeling.”

Eddie grinned at that, and Mary blinked at her in surprise.

“That, and I’m not stupid. You would know that.” Anne crossed her arms, and leaned back in her seat. “I know when you’re hiding something from me, Eddie, it was just a matter of time until I found out.” She couldn’t help the little quirk in her lips, though, when Venom slid over to bump their cheeks together. “You’ve grown sweeter since I last saw you.”

“ ** _We fell in love._** ” Anne blinked at that, and much to her surprise, Eddie turned red. Her eyes widened, and her mouth rounded into a little ‘o’ of realisation. “ ** _Do you hate us for it?_** ”

There was once upon a time when Anne never thought of any instance where Eddie would fall in love again. She knew him well, and he knew her well—and the both of them fell in love in wholes and absolutes.

When she made the choice to leave him, she thought she could never love again.

Yet now, she had Dan, and the ring in the box she found at the bottom of Dan’s sock drawer, simply waiting for the day he gave it to her himself.

She’d wondered, sometimes, for Eddie’s sake. She’d wondered if he had moved on from her, if he would manage to bounce back from the life they left since they parted.

For a while, she was worried. She’d worried for him, not as his girlfriend, but as someone who was once his best friend.

No, not was—as someone who still _is_ his best friend.

Now, there Eddie was—flourishing more than ever before, even more than when he was with Anne, happy, and now, most importantly—in love again.

Oh, she would be lying if she said it didn’t make her happy for even a single bit.

“Of course I don’t.” She said softly, and leaned forward to squeeze Eddie’s hand still on Mary’s knee. “I’m really happy for the three of you.”

“Three, including who?” Mary asked, and Anne cocked her head at her.

“Aren’t you, uh, their kid or something?” She asked, and now it was Mary’s turn to blush.

“I’m 23, Miss Weying.” Mary muttered, and Anne blinked. “But, um, there’s this little guy…” She lifted the mason jar in her hands, and Anne realised that inside was a swirling bluish-grey blob inside it.

“Wait—is that—” She began, and turned to look at Eddie. “Is that another Symbiote?”

“Yeah.” he nodded, and looked sheepish. “It’s, um. It’s our baby.”

Anne blinked at him slowly, and Eddie’s cheeks turned redder.

“I said—”

“I heard you the first time,” Anne shook her head, “A _baby?_ You and—you and _Venom?_ Had a _baby?_ ”

“It’s so _weird,_ I don’t know either!” Eddie shot back, “Only Mary knows, kinda—”

“I don’t really know _everything,_ but—” Mary interjected, but was quickly ignored.

“Eddie, that’s another _alien_ here on Earth! What were you _thinking?_ ”

“Listen, I didn’t _mean_ to!” Eddie got up, and Anne jumped back into the backrest of her seat when Venom slid out from under him to glower threateningly at her. They stopped at the sight of the shock on her face, and sheepishly, Venom drew back, Eddie slowly sitting down again. He sighed deeply, rubbing the back of his neck to ease some of the tension in it. “I… I didn’t mean to. Neither of us knew what was going on, and before we knew it I was… um. Expecting.”

“Pregnant.” Anne echoed, and she shook her head. “What is this, the _Alien_ series?”

“You won’t believe me if I said that was what we were watching the night before I discovered I was pregnant.” Eddie muttered, and Anne pulled a face. “TMI, sorry.”

“A bit, yeah.” She nodded, and sighed. “So, what was it you wanted me to do?”

At that, Eddie blinked at her in surprise. “You… you wanna help us?”

“Well, I mean,” she made a vague gesture at Venom, at the jar. “We’ve been through some shit.”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“And…” Anne smiled slightly, “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Anne would be lying if she said she didn’t still think that Eddie was attractive. He was a handsome, handsome man if he really tried to be, and the smile of relief that crossed his face at her words was nothing short of _beautiful._

Eddie was a beautiful man, and it made fondness blossom in her heart thinking about it.

“Thanks, Anne.” he said, relief making his voice winded and weak. “Thank you, so, so much.”

She moved forward to give him the hug he so wanted to ask of her, a gesture of trust, a gesture of reassurance, as he buried his face into the crook of her neck, hugging her tighter than she hugged him back.

A first time father stumbling through an unprecedented parenthood, unfamiliar and alien. Literally.

Anne rubbed his back comfortingly, and sighed.

She could only imagine what it must feel for Eddie to be like this—the new baby, the stress of chasing trapped friends in danger. It was all so _new,_ and she wasn’t sure if they would all ever get used to living in symbiosis, this double-life that bordered on a superhero life in the sidelines.

Well, at the very least, she wouldn’t end up the leading lady. A Mary Jane Watson she was not, a leading lady she will never be.

Maybe the badass normal ally instead. She always like those in those flashy superhero movies.

“Right, that’s enough,” she said good-naturedly, pulling away to see the soft expression on Mary’s face, and smiled. “What do you need me to do?”

“I just need you to look after Mary and the baby for us for a bit,” Eddie said, getting up to stand fully, heading to the window. “Hopefully we won’t be long getting my guy back.”

“Right.” Anne nodded, “Be careful, Eddie.”

He gave her a little confident smirk, that quirk of his lips that once upon a time Anne kissed to smear her lipstick over his skin to mark it, but now, all it did was tug at the corner of her own lips until she was wearing a smirk that mirrored it.

“We will,” he said, as Venom morphed around him into the suit, Eddie’s phone still in his gigantic hand. “ **_Stay safe, Anne. Mary._** ”

The two women waved them goodbye, as Venom jumped out of the window, before Anne shut it to look at Mary. She gave the nervous-looking young woman a friendly smile and headed to the kitchen.

“You want some tea or something? Seems like we won’t be able to get much sleep anyway.”

“I’m… uh.” Mary looked sheepish. “I don’t like tea.”

“Thank _god._ ” Anne sighed, much to her surprise, and she grinned at her as she pulled out the coffee grinds instead. “Don’t like it much either. I just keep it around because my boyfriend likes the stuff, and _he’s_ the doctor.”

Mary finally laughed, and Anne thought it was lovely on her.

“That’s weird.” She said, but got up to help Anne make coffee.

“So, what do you do, anyway?” Anne asked, measuring out the coffee while Mary filled up a pitcher with water. “Eddie never mentioned.”

“Oh, nowadays I just go to my part time job and then head home to my apartment and play bad video games.” She said, and Anne giggled.

“Now, if _that_ isn’t the life.”

“Also, I’m waiting for a reply on my PhD scholarship application.” Mary continued, and Anne looked down at her with a small smile.

“PhD, huh? You a scientist?” She asked, and Mary nodded.

“If you like, I could tell you more about Symbiotes.” Anne looked over at the clock on the wall—11:02PM, and laughed fondly.

“Yeah, sure.” She nodded, “Got nothing better to do. He’s been in my head before, but it’s really something else when you hear it from an actual expert.”

Mary laughed softly at that, and shrugged. “Not an expert, but I’ll do my best.”

“Try me.” Anne replied, “If there’s anything I’ve learned from working in a law firm, it’s that if you hear anything fancy that’s beyond your field of expertise, it’s bound to sound professional regardless.”

Mary smiled at that softly, and nodded.

“I suppose you’re right,” she agreed, and she would like to think that the baby in the mason jar agreed with her as well. “Okay, so. Symbiotes are anaerobic organisms, meaning…”

* * *

The address Mandrake sent them took them to an abandoned warehouse next to the docks, and Venom could smell the scent of the sea from where they crouched on the rooftop of the warehouse, their face scrunching up.

“ ** _We don’t like it here._** ”

 _It’s suspicious, definitely._ Eddie agreed. _Mandrake, you fucking idiot._

“ ** _I like him. Foolhardy, just like us._** ”

_Please don’t adopt him as our third kid, we have enough children as it is._

At that, the Symbiote smiled, and shook his head fondly.

“ ** _So you admit it?_** ”

_Admit what._

“ ** _You see Mary as our daughter too._** ”

 _Venom, we’re not having this conversation while I have my senses firmly shut and you’re still standing on top of the roof._ Eddie huffed. _Now let’s get down there and save Mandrake’s stupid ass so I can get Lotus arrested already._

“ ** _And then sort out our babies._** ” Venom said, and Eddie sighed.

_And then sort out our babies._

“ ** _You admitted it again._** ”

_I am going to push us off this roof myself, I swear—_

Venom melted away from Eddie to leave the man standing on the slanted roofing, clinging onto the shingles mid-speech, snickering as he slithered down under Eddie’s skin.

“To god, and— _fucking Venom!_ ” He shouted, holding on for dear life as the Symbiote laughed at him. Eddie glowered at nothing above his head, and his Symbiote quickly took pity on him, wrapping around his human again before dropping down into the warehouse with a loud crash.

_Well done, Venom. We’re like a super-spy with that entrance._

Venom rolled their eyes. “ ** _Love you too, Eddie._** ” He muttered, and looked around. The last time they heard from Mandrake, he was definitely being pursued inside the warehouse, and the location pin that they got from his message placed them right on top of where he had been standing when he sent it. They looked around to find that they had landed in a labyrinth made by temporary divisions and large containers, and it offered them only a sliver of hope when they knew that there was very little blood that they could smell in there.

God, they hoped he was alright.

 _Where do we start?_ Eddie asked, and Venom tore at one of the dividers to reveal another pathway there, empty, save for more junk inside them. Dead, unimpressed silence answered them, and Venom’s leer widened as he continued to rampage through the warehouse to find Mandrake.

 _Wait._ Eddie made them stop, and Venom lowered his claws to let him look into one of the containers. _Oh, shit. Venom, mask off._

Venom peeled away from him, and Eddie pulled out his phone to shine a light inside one of the destroyed containers.

Packets upon packets of Belladonna Cosmetics skincare biopackets loomed over them inside the container, and Eddie frowned, taking a photo of them before picking one up. He carefully turned it over in his hand, and Venom hissed.

**_It’s been tampered with._ **

“Where?” Eddie murmured, and Venom moved his finger to brush over an almost negligible spot near the disk of the sunflower on the packaging. He frowned, and tore it open, only to have the package suddenly get covered with Venom’s black tendrils. “Venom?”

 **_Poisoned._ ** He said. **_It would kill you if it touched your skin._ **

Eddie frowned, and carefully closed the packaging again. “Better keep this, then.” He hesitated, and then took another one. “And then another one for evidence.”

**_Why are we bringing this along?_ **

“Just in the case we run into anyone a little… unfriendly.” Eddie frowned, and Venom leered at him, wrapping around him again to form their body.

“ ** _And here I thought it bothered you if we ate people._** ”

_They’re bad guys, Venom. And this time, it’s about our kids too._

Venom couldn’t argue with that. Instead, they went back to tearing at the walls, the containers, until they came to a stop at a corridor with a faint scent of blood on it.

 _Shit._ Eddie hissed. _I hope we’re not too late._

Venom’s tongue slid out of his mouth, and licked the ground. Inside him, Eddie let out a gasp of disgust and protest, but the Symbiote ignored him to concentrate, locating the taste of blood along the length of the corridor, until they could just barely make out the path it went in.

The blood fell in droplets in a wobbling line—Mandrake was injured, hobbling along the hallway. They strode onwards, and found a bloodied handprint on the wall, and then the trail of blood just stopped.

“ ** _Wait,_** ” Venom began, “ ** _Why did it stop?_** ”

“Because I made it stop.” Rosa’s voice said from above them, and suddenly there was that painful screeching sound again, the one that pulled at Venom from limb to limb, tearing them apart, and Eddie felt his soul leaving him as Venom shot out of his body for the second time that night, flying straight into a familiar container that turned his blood into ice.

Life Foundation. The Symbiote project.

Suddenly the walls around him collapsed, and a bright light shone down on him, making him flinch and cover his eyes as he tried to gain his bearings again. He whirled around, trying to find where Venom went, sorely missing the sensation of his Symbiote in his mind, his heart—

“Venom!” He shouted, his voice reverberating through the suddenly empty warehouse, until he came to a stop at the sight of Rosa standing across him, a leer on his face.

He pulled his sunglasses off to reveal blood red eyes, and Eddie lurched back away from him.

“Holy shit!” he gasped, and the man laughed.

“Of all the things you’ve seen, Mr. Brock, you think my _eyes_ are the ones deserving of such a reaction?” He asked, and gestured to his right, where Eddie saw that damned Symbiote container again, Venom writhing around inside it desperately. His eyes widened, and he made a move to head to his Symbiote when Rosa cocked something, catching Eddie’s attention and rooting him into place.

In the man’s hands was a long staff with two prongs at the end. It buzzed with a strange sort of energy, and the man grinned at him.

“This here is an anti-Symbiote weapon.” He explained, though Eddie hadn’t asked. “A sonic weapon, if you will, and if you try anything stupid, your Symbiote will meet the fate of all the others that came with it to Earth.”

Eddie grit his teeth, and stood back.

Rosa gave him a leer, all teeth and no smile, and nodded.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Brock.” He said. “Now, you must be wondering about John Mandrake.”

“The hell did you do with him?” He asked, and Rosa shrugged.

“Unwanted weeds must be uprooted from a garden.” He replied, and Eddie bit his lip.

“That’s not an answer.” He replied, “Where the fuck is that kid?”

“Mandrakes are such ugly little plants, after all.” Rosa continued, as if Eddie hadn’t spoken. “I’d rather not sully my master’s garden, even though they may be far away from this warehouse we drew you to.”

“Drew… the _fuck?_ ” Eddie snapped, “What the _hell_ would you people have to gain from bringing me here? You couldn’t have known I had a Symbiote!”

“Or did we?” Rosa smiled slowly, “Bold of you to assume, Mr. Brock, that we do things in halves.” They held up their phone, and Eddie felt his blood grow cold.

“Wait. Is that—”

“ _You were going to tell me what you think was wrong with us._ ” His own voice sounded strange coming from a recorded device that small, but there was no mistaking it. That was _his_ voice, and Eddie knew where that came from.

“ _Yeah, I was, wasn’t I?_ ” Mary. All this time, they knew. They fucking _knew._ “ _Well, as I said, when Symbiotes mutualise with their hosts, they adapt their physiology to match the host’s._ ”

“Oh, my.” Rosa said slowly. “Daddy dearest’s biggest secret, revealed, just like that.” He drawled, slipping his phone into his pocket again. “Of course we knew who Mary Andrews was. She’s the reason this whole operation was ever going to work.”

Eddie’s eyes widened. “Wh…”

“You didn’t know, did you?” Rosa smirked, “Your dear little girl never told you?”

Venom seemed to struggle inside his container, as if in protest. He knew something, Eddie knew. He had been in Mary’s head, even for just a moment, he would have known.

He would have known if Mary had any bad intentions—he would have known better than to think of her as their own, right?

“She’s a murderer.” Rosa continued, “She created one of the greatest weapons Atropine could ever hope for.”

Eddie thought back to the biopatches. Mary’s note to him in her notebook.

“Holy _fuck._ ” He breathed.

She said she helped develop the aspirin pads, the face masks that disappeared into the skin—the _biopatches._ She was a scientist from Life Foundation, she had all the resources, the intellect—

She _made_ these. These sweet little patches that could kill thousands upon thousands the moment they touched their skin.

Eddie hesitated.

No, there had to be another explanation. It wasn’t _that_ easy, it couldn’t be.

_She let Lotus put some on herself._

His eyes widened. She was going to die.

“Hm, not so trustworthy after all, is she?” Rosa continued, completely missing the point, and Eddie smirked at him wryly.

“Frankly, you really remind me of a superhero movie villain right now.” He shook his head, “Not the best look for you, pal.”

Rosa looked at him dryly. “Hilarious, Mr. Brock.” He deadpanned, “But no matter. I came to see you to get Mr. Drake’s property back.”

Eddie squinted at him suspiciously. “Newsflash, bitch. Drake’s dead, and Venom doesn’t belong to anyone.” He jerked a finger at the grinning man. “And _especially_ not to you Atropine assholes.”

“I beg to differ.” Rosa replied easily, “As our agreement clause states, Mr. Drake is to relinquish all findings and technology produced from the Symbiote Project to its highest contributor, which is, of course, Atropine.” He bowed at Eddie, and smirked. “Funded exclusively by Belladonna Cosmetics.”

“I _fucking_ knew it.” Eddie snarled, “Not exactly subtle there, pal.”

Rosa lifted his hands, “I do believe we’ve done an acceptable job linking up our two corporations on the surface level quite delicately.”

Behind Rosa, Eddie could see shadows moving, a little silhouette of a man shuffling around the back between some containers, and he noticed a familiar spot of brown hair.

Mandrake, he realised. Mandrake was alright, after all.

The young man spotted him, and pressed a finger to his lips to silence him, limping towards where Venom was being kept. Carefully Eddie took a step in the opposite direction, hoping to bait Rosa to face away from the container, and much to his relief, Rosa followed him, stepping around carefully to match Eddie’s movements.

“A new bioweapons terrorist group masquerading under a name that threatens to uproot our glorious corporation? Who else is better equipped to face them but Belladonna itself? The very group it chose to sully?” Rosa continued, blissfully unaware of Mandrake creeping up on Venom’s container. “There will be chaos after—a lapse in Belladonna’s actions that will cost the lives of thousands of our customers, oh no, but then who could come up with the cure? Certainly not Life Foundation, there could only be one other.”

“Belladonna.” Eddie replied flatly. “Doesn’t explain why you’d want the Symbiotes though.”

“It is as Mr. Drake once said,” Rosa replied, “They could be the medicine we seek.” He grinned, “Or, perhaps, of more interest to Atropine—the perfect bioweapon we need. We already know what they are capable of, thanks to you, Mr. Brock.”

Eddie stopped at that. “The… the hell do you mean?”

Rosa smirked slowly, and Eddie held his breath as Mandrake’s hand reached for Venom’s container—

When suddenly the man whirled around, kicking the trolley that held Venom aside to ram the butt of his staff into Mandrake’s solar plexus.

“You little sneak,” Rosa said through a plastic smile, “You nearly got me there, if I didn’t see you with my enhanced eyes.”

“M-Mr. B-Brock!” Mandrake gasped, slumping to the ground, and Rosa whirled around again to block Eddie off from getting to Venom, still smiling.

“It’s not going to be that easy, Mr. Brock,” He said, activating the staff before spinning it to hit Eddie in the side with it, sending him flying across the room. Inside the container Venom writhed and screamed in protest, “For a moment, you thought it was going to be over, was it? Did you think you could just reunite with your Symbiote that easily?”

He strode over to Eddie, leering as the man slowly turned over, wincing in pain as he slid his hand under his jacket to clutch his side.

“I’m letting you know all this because neither you nor this bothersome little weed is getting out of here alive,” he snarled, kneeling down to look Eddie in the eye. “It’s so fun, watching you squirm like this. So helpless, while we find your other little Symbiote and tear it apart for our own gain, too.”

At that, Eddie’s eyes widened. “What the fu—”

Rosa kicked him in the gut again, and he doubled over, coughing. Inside his container, Venom vibrated furiously, the glass shaking. The rattling of the trolley he was on caught Mandrake’s attention, and he lifted his head off the ground weakly, grasping his midsection.

“The… the Symbiote…” he choked out, and began to crawl.

“We know you have a baby, too, yes. We saw how very sweet you were to it. Very touching.”

He rolled Eddie over with his toe, and smirked down at his scrunched up face.

“Didn’t you find it odd that a condemned building like Life Foundation HQ had electricity and a working scanning room?” He asked. “Did neither you nor Mary figure that out?”

He’d wondered, for the briefest of moments, but then the pain took him over. The panic, no doubt, distracted them all enough to forget about it.

Rosa didn’t wait for him to speak. “No, I suppose not.” He twirled his staff, smirking. “Gold nanoparticles. Nanotechnology is so interesting, isn’t it? It’s amazing what kind of things little machines can carry into the body. Poison…”

Eddie’s eyes widened. “Oh, _fuck._ ”

_“Now, each of these biopatches are infused with sunflower oil and gold particles, to help you with your problem and to revitalise your skin.”_

Lotus’s words echoed back in his head, and Eddie’s gut sank.

The biopatch Mary had on her. It had gold particles in it.

“So many convenient little things. Like, let’s say, a GPS tracker.” Rosa’s smirk widened. “Thanks to your carelessness, daddy dearest, it’s time to say goodbye to your sweet little baby.”

* * *

“And then, I told him—” Anne stopped suddenly, and Mary cocked her head at her.

“Miss Weying?” She asked, and the blonde hushed her gently, getting up slowly from her seat to look at the door. Mary immediately was on edge, clutching the jar close to herself again, and Anne quickly hurried into her kitchen to pick up a kitchen knife. “ _Miss Weying!_ ” Mary hissed at her, and Anne waved at her to stay quiet.

Slowly Anne crept to her door, and peered through the peephole to find someone standing outside, and she blinked in confusion.

“Mary, there’s someone in a really fancy jumpsuit and coat combination,” she said, turning around—and she gasped when a group of men suddenly burst through her window, grabbing Mary from behind, slapping a hand over her mouth as they hoisted her up off the couch. Anne jumped to action, brandishing her kitchen knife with a shout, managing to stab one of the men in the arm before she realised that another had opened the door for her, letting the person outside step in. With a muffled curse under her breath, Anne moved away from the men before they could grab her, though they all stopped at the wave of the beautiful person’s hand.

“You must be Anne Weying.” They said, and Anne glowered at them.

“Are you… Lotus?” She ventured, and they nodded, smiling placidly.

“Please, we don’t want anything untoward happening here,” they said, though they didn’t even flinch when Anne strode up to them to hold the knife threateningly at them. “Oh?”

“Get out of my house.” She snarled, and they held their hands up slowly in defence.

“Miss Weying, please.” They said, unmindful of the knife near their jugular. “You wouldn’t kill a man, would you?”

“You’re not a man.” Anne deadpanned, and they chuckled.

“Fair.” They replied. “Very well, I’d like to at least tell you why we’re here.” They gestured at Mary, who trembled in the hold of the men around her. “You are currently harbouring a little murderer in your midst, and she has my property.”

Anne’s eyes widened at that, and she whirled around to look at Mary, who looked at her pleadingly, shaking her head desperately. “Murderer?” She gasped, disbelieving. “ _Mary?_ And what do you _mean,_ your property?”

“Surely you are all too familiar with how our lines of businesses operate, Miss Weying.” Lotus smiled slowly, “Following the death of Mr. Carlton Drake and the subsequent shutdown of Life Foundation, several of its agreement clauses come into implementation.”

Anne looked at them, and their smile widened.

“As agreed with Mr. Drake, Belladonna Cosmetics is free to take the results of their research on the Symbiote project, as well as the specimens involved with it.” The gestured at the jar in Mary’s hands, “Including any other derivatives thereof, such as the Venom Symbiote’s offspring.”

“Wh-wha—how did,” Anne stammered, and Lotus shrugged easily.

“We find ways,” They simply said. “And regarding Miss Andrews—it has come to our attention that she was the credited developer of the biotechnology called biopatches, I’m sure you’re aware of those.”

“The, uh, aspirin on paper?” Anne ventured, and they nodded.

“Yes, that. We have reason to believe that it is her invention that has fallen into the bioweapons terrorist group Atropine’s hands, and that she is responsible for the deaths of a few people thanks to these biopatches.”

Anne’s grip on her knife wavered, and Lotus watched her hand carefully.

“For instance, one Mr. John Mandrake, and Mr. Eddie Brock.”

Anne loosened her grip on her knife in shock, and that was all it took. Lotus rushed forward to press _hard_ on her jugular, knocking her out, and she crumbled to the ground, unconscious. The knife clattered to the ground and skidded away from her harmlessly. Mary struggled against the holds on her, but it was all for moot, as Lotus approached her with a cruel smile on their face.

“And now,” they said, grabbing her chin, “Our cute little lab rat.”

They jerked their head at their men, before turning on their heel to stride out of the apartment, their people following after them into the darkness of the night outside.

* * *

“You piece of _shit!_ ” Eddie shot forward, adrenaline sending strength rushing into his body, pulling him up onto his feet to land a punch on Rosa’s face. The man staggered back, laughing, and immediately straightened up again, much to Eddie’s shock. He lunged forward with a jab at Eddie’s midsection with the sonic staff again, and Eddie screamed as he was thrown back against a wall, slamming _hard_ before he slid down to the ground in a heap.

“Ooh, a hit.” Rosa leered, touching his cheek gently. “Ballsy, but not quite. You’re no match for us, Mr. Brock. Accept it.”

In the corner of his fading vision, Eddie saw Venom rattling his container, and he reached out for him. Rosa laughed, stepping on his hand, and he screamed in pain again.

“Aww, how sweet. Reaching out for his Symbiote so desperately. Do you not know how to say goodbye, Mr. Brock, or shall I have to teach you?”

Eddie didn’t answer him—not when he could see Mandrake reach the trolley, his hand curling around the pole holding the tray where Venom’s container sat, and he grinned past the pain tearing his body apart.

“Nah, I never want to learn how to say goodbye.” he said, and Rosa frowned at him.

“Unfortunate.” He said, lifting his staff to strike—

When Mandrake _yanked_ at the pole, sending Venom’s container crashing to the ground. Glass shattered, and the Symbiote was set free, hissing in relief as he shot forward to slide into Eddie’s body.

Rosa only had a moment to realise what was happening—

When Venom wrapped himself around Eddie’s body and stabbed his arm through the man’s midsection.

“ ** _No goodbyes for us,_** ” Venom sneered, as Rosa gaped at them. “ ** _But a goodbye from you would do nicely._** ”

They slid their arm out of him, and he crumbled to the ground, bleeding out. Venom stood up, and slid away from Eddie to look him over worriedly, as bruises and cuts healed over.

**_Eddie. So worried, Eddie. Are you okay?_ **

“I’m fine,” Eddie grunted, letting Venom press their foreheads together, until Mandrake cleared his throat awkwardly from where he stood. The two of them turned to look at him, and Eddie gave him a lopsided grin. “Well, kid, you—”

Suddenly Rosa grabbed him by his ankle, and he jumped.

“I—won’t—let—you!” He managed, blood trickling from his mouth, and Eddie shot him a dirty look.

“Okay, that’s it.” he said, and Venom’s hand wrapped around Eddie’s. He reached into his pocket to pull out the packet he opened earlier, and pulled out one biopatch. Rosa’s eyes widened at it, and he tried to move away, but Venom stabbed him through his foot.

Behind them, Mandrake flinched, and looked away.

“ ** _Let’s see how well this works, huh?_** ” Venom leered, and pressed a yellow sunflower biopatch petal in the middle of his forehead. Rosa suddenly lurched, screaming in pain, and he shuddered, letting go of Eddie as he convulsed on the ground. Eddie backed away from him as Venom slid back under his skin, panting, and together, they watched Rosa struggle, and then fall deathly still.

“Is… is it over?” Mandrake ventured from behind them, and Eddie turned to look at him.

“Not by a long shot.” He replied, “C’mon, kid. My family’s in danger.”

* * *

“Anne!” Eddie called, striding into the apartment with Mandrake in tow. “Anne— _holy shit!_ ”

The woman was on the floor in the middle of a mildly disturbed living room, a kitchen knife on the floor a ways away from her. Luckily it didn’t have blood on it—actually, not a single drop of blood was anywhere—but something else clawed terribly at Eddie’s nerves.

Mary was missing.

**_Our children are missing._ **

“Fuck,” Eddie hissed, kneeling down to wake Anne up. “Anne, hey, I’m here. It’s Eddie.”

“Ed…” she mumbled, wincing, and Eddie looked at Mandrake.

“Get her a glass of water, kid.” He barked, and Mandrake hurried to the kitchen. He turned back to Anne, who was slowly waking up as he turned her over in his arms. “Anne? Anne, what happened? Where’s Mary?”

“Mary!” _That_ woke her up, and she jolted upright. “Eddie, Lotus came here—they took her, and—and the baby, oh god, _I thought you were dead!_ ” She hugged him tightly, and he hugged her back with a sigh. Venom wrapped himself around them, and Anne looked up from Eddie to peer pityingly at him. “I’m so sorry, they… they told me you were dead, that Mary killed people?”

“It’s not her fault, I’m sure of it.” Eddie said, and Venom nodded.

“ ** _Drake took advantage of her and made her make it._** ” He said, and the two looked at him in alarm, as Mandrake finally came back with a glass of water. Anne accepted it with a grateful nod, and the young man smiled at her awkwardly.

“ ** _I saw it in her head._** ” Venom continued, “ ** _She didn’t mean it. She just wanted to be like her._** ”

“Like who?” Eddie asked, and Venom looked at him, sympathy swirling in their heart.

“ ** _Dora Skirth._** ”

Anne deflated. “Oh, that poor kid…”

“Did you get to talk to her?” Eddie asked, and she nodded.

“Yeah, she said she was Dr. Skirth’s student. Followed her into Life Foundation hoping to someday be just like her, discovering some crazy medical miracles. Making a difference.” She rubbed her arm. “She said… she was once so proud of the biopatches. Said that maybe, a few years ago, she wouldn’t have lost her dad if she had them.”

Eddie blinked at her, and Anne scratched her cheek.

“She didn’t elaborate.” She said, “Eddie, she’s not a bad kid. I know that, you have to know that, too.”

Eddie’s expression tightened, and he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“I’ll get her back.” He said determinedly, and she smiled at him sadly.

“Be careful.”

He looked at Mandrake over his shoulder.

“Hey, Mandrake. You said you had some explaining to do?”

“O-oh, yeah.” Mandrake scratched the back of his head. “Well, mostly it’s stuff you now know, Belladonna, Atropine, et cetera.” He shrugged. “I got some evidence before I ran into you, sent it to our Life Foundation investigation evidence cloud folder.”

Eddie sighed, nodding. “Yeah, thanks. That’s. Great.”

He was hoping for a location, somewhere he could start looking for Mary and their baby.

“ ** _We need a location._** ” Venom said for him instead, and Eddie looked at him exasperatedly. Venom cocked his head at him, but Anne nodded.

“We need to find those kids,” She agreed. “Have anything?”

Mandrake paused to think, and Eddie opened his mouth to tell him off again—when the young man finally grinned.

“Yeah, I think I have something.” He replied, pulling his phone out to search for something before showing it to Eddie and Anne.

“Belladonna Cosmetics HQ. Really.” Anne deadpanned.

“Well, I mean.” Eddie shrugged, “It’s a start.”

“That’s so—that’s…” she began to protest, but then she fell quiet. “Actually, yeah. This is some superhero movie bullshit, but then again, the same logic applied to Drake when we fought him…”

“Right?” Eddie laughed dryly, and got up. “I’m going there right now.”

“I’m coming with.” Mandrake declared, and Eddie raised an eyebrow at him. “Sorry, Mr. Brock, But Lotus used to be my friend. That was years ago, but I need to know why they ended up like this.”

He laughed dryly, and Eddie couldn’t help but feel sad for him.

“That, and I don’t like leaving jobs half-done.” He said, and Eddie deflated at his words. “I’m gonna see this one through to the end. I’m just as guilty as Mary is in this for helping Life Foundation stay in touch with Belladonna Cosmetics.”

Eddie looked at Anne, who offered him a weak smile.

“I know what you’re gonna say.” She said, and Eddie looked sheepish. “Normally I’d kick your ass for even thinking it after what we’ve been through, but for now, I’ll let you go.”

She looked over at Mandrake, who blushed slightly.

“You’ve got plenty enough backup, anyway.”

Eddie smiled, and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back tightly, and buried her face into the crook of his neck.

“Bring Mary and the baby back, you hear me?” Anne mumbled, “They’re good kids.”

“I will.”

“And you, idiot, you come back, too.” She pulled away from him to cup his face in her hand, and then smiled up at Venom who peered at her from the collar of Eddie’s shirt. “The _both_ of you, this time, please.”

“ ** _Will do._** ” Venom smiled at her, and disappeared into Eddie. Anne smiled at them, and pulled away from them completely.

“Go, then. Do the superhero stuff, whatever.” She said, and watched as the two men strode out of her apartment building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes dbh is a bad game but yes i still had fun playing it. hankcon is great and im still mad at the fact that mandrake's faceclaim is bryan dechart. someone shoot me


	6. symbiosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new Symbiote awakens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > my itunes playlist is really out there deadass reminding me that i haven't updated eating for two in a literal month like sit your ass down im trying to plow leon re2's ass with tyrant dick
>> 
>> — ⭕️bukkun @ leon 'the s stands for slut' kennedy (@trickscd) [11 February 2019](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1094784261079482368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> VVVIBRATES IM SO STRESSED OUT HI HELLO DON'T THINK I HAVEN'T FINISHED THIS FIC I JUST FORGOT ABOUT IT LIKE A DAMN FOOL !!!! DAMN !!!! anyway yeah we're nearly done, huh ! happy valentines !!
> 
> took me a while to update again bc............ i finished kh3....... and then got severely distracted with re2make..... i have the attention span of a gnat.....
> 
> anyway please enjoy skdjlsjdl i deadass don't know if this is still exciting anymore but eh? whatevs.

Belladonna Cosmetics HQ was by no means a skyscraper, but Eddie still felt nervous at the sight of its more than 10 storeys, swallowing nervously as he looked up at the building that loomed over his and Mandrake’s heads.

**_This again?_ ** Venom said in their head, and Eddie rolled his eyes, forcing himself to calm down as he looked at Mandrake.

“So, kid, where do you suppose they are?”

“Well, if we had to go by superhero movie logic—” He said, and Eddie snorted in amusement. Mandrake grinned at him, and shrugged, “I’d say that the roof is a safe bet.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Eddie nodded. “Haven’t seen enough flicks to really get a consensus. How about you?”

“Never was that invested enough.” Mandrake replied, “Or we could just storm the place and I could go figure it out as long as I get my hands on a computer terminal.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at him. “Thought you were just part of marketing?”

“I’ve always had an uncanny way of hacking into stuff.” Mandrake winked at him. “Our first stop is security, I guess.”

Eddie shrugged, and Venom wrapped himself around him.

“ ** _After you._** ” He leered at Mandrake, and the young man looked nervous. “ ** _Didn’t you use to work here?_** ”

“Not really. Been here a few times and stuff, but then again, Rosa caught my ass and reported me to Lotus, no doubt.” Mandrake deadpanned, crossing his arms. “They won’t just let me waltz in there and fuck shit up.”

Half of Venom’s face unfurled, and Eddie looked at him boredly. “To be fair, that seems to be their type of trap-laying.”

Mandrake looked at him witheringly, cocking his head, and the man rolled his eyes.

“Fine.” He slunk back into Venom and the Symbiote hissed. “ ** _After us._** ”

“Thank you.”

“ ** _Pussy._** ”

Mandrake looked affronted, and it made them snicker, jumping away from him to get a move on.

“ ** _We’re gonna leave you behind, Mandrake, keep up!_** ”

“R-right!” the young man jolted, and hurried after them.

* * *

Mary woke up to the sight of a bright light being shone down on her. She winced, and much to her relief, she still had the jar in her arms. Slowly she sat up and realised she was inside a sterile office room, set down on the ground in front of a nondescript desk in the middle of a nondescript room.

Mary took this all in, and frowned.

For a moment, she’d expected a full-blown jail cell, but she supposed sometimes even evil masterminds had some sense of frugality.

In her arms the jar jingled slightly, and she jumped. She looked down at it, and gingerly cradled it in her arms like a baby, hushing it softly.

“Um, sorry?” She said softly, “I know you miss your dads, but…” She paused, and deflated. She couldn’t believe what Lotus said to her, right? That Eddie was dead? It didn’t make sense—Eddie couldn’t be dead, he just—

He just _couldn’t._ Not like before.

She squeezed her eyes shut, and held the jar closer to herself, uncaring if the glass dug into her body painfully.

“Not now, no…” She muttered, “Not again…”

Not Eddie Brock. Not when he’d managed to worm his way into a spot long missing a placeholder, not when that word could roll naturally off her tongue again, not since it had been ruined by the man who was responsible for the baby in her arms for even existing.

Carlton Drake had ruined the image of father for her, and now here was Eddie Brock, picking the shards up and putting them back together again, all without realising it.

The door suddenly opened, and she jumped to see an Atropine mook standing at the door. There was a moment’s disappointment in her again—Lotus didn’t follow normal movie supervillain code, after all—but then panic soon replaced that when he strode into the room to grab her by the arm.

“H-hey! Wait!” She began to struggle, kicking out at him. “No! I’m not going with you!”

“ _Hold still!_ ” The man barked at her through his mask, and kicked her down, earning him a scream of pain from her as she fell over. He grabbed the mason jar from her weakened grip, and panic flooded Mary’s senses.

“No!” She screamed, and adrenaline carried her leg up to collide with the man’s crotch, and the man buckled over with a choked gasp. Panicked, Mary caught the jar that tumbled out of his arms, and hurried out of the room.

Relief surged over her to find that she was in an empty hallway, and that she was in a familiar enough office complex. It looked like any other office complex she’d seen before—hell, Life Foundation Sales had a similar layout to this, so she knew that at the very least the elevator would be nearby.

She just had to find it.

Picking a random direction, she hurried down the corridor, and turned the corner to find a branching pair of corridors, and the sound of voices coming from the one on the left. She held her breath, and hurried back to hide behind the corner to see another pair of guards walking down the corridor, chatting amicably.

“Ah, shit, which direction was the kid again?” One of them asked, and Mary’s expression fell.

Fuck’s sake, she thought. She was 23, for crying out loud!

“Uh, this way?” His partner ventured, pointing in the opposite direction of her, and Mary held her breath—

“Oh, okay. So, anyway, the Patriots, last night…”

They rounded the corner, and Mary stole onward, turning down into the hallway they came from, and she lit up when she saw the elevator at the end of the hallway. To the left there was a pair of doors—bathrooms—and she could see the elevator steadily approaching her level.

There was someone definitely in there, she thought, and hurried into the women’s bathroom, panting heavily as she locked the door behind her, pressing an ear to the door.

God, she could barely hear anything past her heart thundering in her ears. Her breaths were shaky as she strained to listen, but a long time that seemed to stretch into hours, she couldn’t hear anything. Maybe they’d gone by? Maybe she was safe?

Mary bit her lip. Everything was so much easier in video games, damn it, but right now she had nothing. No one else, save for Venom and Eddie’s baby still in her arms. Suddenly it trembled, and she bit back her shout of alarm, looking down at it with an accusatory glare.

“You,” she hissed, “Don’t scare me like that! We’re gonna get out of here, I promise! We’ll see our dads again!”

The jar shook again, and she was at a loss on what to do. She didn’t know what it wanted. Hell, Mary couldn’t even make decisions for _herself_ right now, what more for an hours-old Symbiote baby?

She shook her head.

No, she had to do this. She couldn’t be a child forever.

She had to stand up for herself.

Mary took a deep breath. Now or never.

She threw open the door—

And she was met with Lotus’s smiling face.

“Well,” They said, as disappointment sank in Mary’s heart. They looked down at their glittering rose gold watch, and shrugged. “Five minutes in there. I must say, that’s a wonderful record.” They leaned down slightly to meet her eye, smirking as they patted her head, and then cupped her cheek in her hand. “Normally people last a little shorter waiting. You must be a very patient girl.”

Mary could only gape at them.

“Oh, wait, you really _are,_ considering you’re the brilliant little mind who made my most wonderful weapon in years.” They chuckled, and lowered their hand to her shoulder. “And now, you’ll be the wonderful little mind who will demonstrate my newest miracle weapon in years. Poetic, isn’t it?”

“Please,” she managed, her voice shaking, and Lotus’s smile turned into a little ‘o’ of surprise when tears rolled down her cheeks unbidden. “I…”

“Aw, Mary, my dear,” Lotus tutted, “As your father once said, everything we do is all in the pursuit of knowledge.”

They straightened up, and gently slid their hands over her own numb ones, covering them in a steady grip despite the fear that kept her rooted into place. Despite the despair that filled her heart, overflowing to prick at her eyes.

“Everything of wonder,” they said, their voice melting into Drake’s voice in her head, “ _Is of such a beautiful design, and it is up to us to discover it._ ”

“I…”

A man writhed to his death in front of her, and horror dawned in her eyes as the man in her vision threw the bag off his head to reveal Eddie, choking and gasping— _dying,_ as a little yellow sunflower petal melted into the skin of his forehead.

Tears rolled down her cheeks unheeded.

“What are a few lives compared to a million?” Lotus said smoothly, an ironic slide of silk against skin as they leaned in to murmur into her ear. “Carlton Drake was right to see you as his successor, wasn’t he?” they leered, “ _You little murderer._ ”

Mary’s eyes widened, and she gasped, letting go of the jar to let it drop into Lotus’s hands, and they chuckled softly, petting her head.

“Just like he said,” they said fondly, looking at the Symbiote in their hand as Mary crumbled to her knees, sobbing into her hands as in her mind, Eddie finally stilled, unseeing eyes staring right back at her, a trickle of red, red blood dripping down from his agape mouth.

“Obedient.” Lotus hummed.

“ _Silent._ ” Drake chuckled, and ran his hand through Mary’s hair. “ _And above all,_ ”

“Please,” Mary said shakily. “Mister… Mister Brock. Just tell me, is he—”

“Would it matter, little girl?” Lotus cut her off, and she jolted.

Would it matter, she thought, in the long run?

“What are you going to do to me?”

Lotus lifted her chin, and smiled into her face.

“The best I can.” They said, and pulled away to let his mooks restrain her instead.

* * *

Mandrake looked around carefully, and Venom tried not to roll their eyes as he shuffled down the darkened corridor he just cleared out moments ago. Not that Mandrake knew—they left him behind a few metres ago to remove all the Atropine mooks in the way, and now they were sure no one was left.

_Fuck it, let Mandrake play spies if he wants to._ Venom couldn’t help but smile at that, and simply watched as Mandrake considered the window in the doorway to the security control room, and hesitated.

“ ** _Anything on your mind?_** ” They asked, and he jumped.

“Oh, for fuck—” He shook his head, “You scared the shit out of me.”

Venom grinned at him, and strode over. “ ** _How are we gonna get in there?_** ”

Plan A had been to just break the door off its hinges. It wasn’t like anyone in there had backup to mess them up anyway, but that plan was quickly demoted to Plan B for whatever it was Mandrake had in mind.

“Okay, I’m gonna, um.” he looked sheepish, “Oh, forget it. You do your thing.” He said, but Venom shook their head, gesturing at the door. “Mr. Brock,” He began to say, but when Venom didn’t do anything, his cheeks turned pink. “I get it, I get it, I’m not cut out for this shit, I’m just John Mandrake from Marketing.”

“ ** _Just do it,_** ” Venom snickered, “ ** _Live your life._** ”

Mandrake laughed uneasily at that, and he rubbed his arm. “This sounds like something someone would say if they were gonna die in a movie.”

“Oh, shut up.” Eddie said, Venom peeling away from him to let him squeeze Mandrake’s shoulder. “Relax, kid. Just do it.”

Mandrake looked nervous, and turned to look at the door.

“Okay.” He took a deep breath, and rammed his elbow into the window, shattering it. Eddie blinked at him as he tried to jump into the room awkwardly, but then failed halfway through, getting caught in the doorway.

“Fuck.” Mandrake said intelligently, and Eddie peered into the room, grateful it was empty.

“Good job, kid.” He grinned, helping Mandrake out of his situation with only just the grin, and Mandrake huffed, straightening himself out as Eddie reached into the room to unlock the door from inside. “Looks like it was locked because no one was inside.”

“You’d think they’d keep watch over the security room more intently.”

“Most of that’s because Venom and I took care of it.” Eddie said, and Mandrake deflated as he made his way over to a terminal, quickly typing away. “The rest, because I know Lotus is already expecting us.”

“Huh?” Mandrake blinked at him. “But _why?_ ”

Eddie gave him a withering grin.

“Rosa didn’t report to them, and they have Mary and our baby. The rest follows.”

Mandrake bit his lip. “What’re we gonna do, then?”

“Find me my kids,” he said, patting his shoulder. “And then you get yourself out of here.”

“H-huh?” Mandrake blinked, “But Mr. Brock, what if—”

“Listen, you don’t have a Symbiote like I do. I’ll take Mary home, I promise.” He squeezed Mandrake’s shoulder, and the young man deflated. “We’ll be okay.”

The younger man sighed, and he shook his head. “I’m. I don’t think I’ve lived enough years for this.”

Eddie laughed wryly. “No kidding?”

“I’m only 23.” Mandrake replied, and at that, Eddie stopped.

“You’re Mary’s age?” He asked, and the younger man shot him a wry look.

“Listen, not all 23-year-olds look like they’re 16, Mr. Brock.” He deadpanned, but then blinked when a message popped up on the screen. “Oh.”

“What is it?”

“There’s a big mobilization up on the top floor, right under the skylight. Something’s being set up, but—” Mandrake stopped when he felt Eddie press something into his hand, and he paled to realise it was a gun. “Um, Mr. Brock…”

“Take care of yourself, kid.” He said, patting Mandrake’s head before shifting into the Venom-suit form. “ ** _Go. We’ll take care of the rest._** ”

Mandrake opened his mouth to speak, but Venom suddenly headed out of the window. He got up from his seat, and frowned slightly.

“No,” he said determinedly, and turned towards the door, cocking the gun. “I won’t leave here without seeing Lotus again.”

* * *

She couldn’t feel anything, completely numb as nervous scientists strapped her down to a table, securing her wrists and ankles to cold, sterile steel, and she looked up at the moon high above her head.

Somehow, she felt like she deserved this, after all.

She’d listened to Drake. She didn’t leave completely after Skirth told her to.

Hell, she was still _in_ Life Foundation after she left the Symbiote project, continuing work on those godforsaken bioweapons for Belladonna Cosmetics, bitter and hurt after what Skirth did to her.

Realisation came far too late, far too deep into trouble, by the time Life Foundation fell apart, by the time she realised that Skirth had taken her off the team not because she hated her.

Oh, she felt anything _but_ hate for her.

Skirth had protected her, and what had Mary done after the fact?

Hindsight was always 20/20, they said, and Mary hated herself for it.

At least the moon was beautiful that night. At least—if it was true that Eddie was dead, she would at least see him again when they all died. If she even died tonight, thanks to whatever it was Lotus was going to do to her.

She deserved this. As Drake’s unwitting successor, she deserved to die.

“Hail Mary, full of grace,” Lotus drawled slowly, their heels clicking on the glass flooring as Mary slowly turned to look at them. “The Lord is with you.” They came to a stop by the spot between her feet, and smirked down at her. “Let’s put that to the test, shall we?”

“Didn’t take you for a Catholic.” She said, and they shrugged.

“I’m not one, but then again, you’re not quite the sweet little thing you dress like, are you?” They smiled at her, and Mary deflated. “How unfortunate to see you like this. So lost, all traces of hope, just— _gone._ It’s almost disappointing, really.”

“Sorry, first time being a disappointment.” Mary muttered, and Lotus shrugged.

“Second,” they corrected, walking around to stand by her side to leer down at her. “First time was when your let your real father die, if I’m not mistaken.”

Mary flinched, and they laughed airily, poking her cheek. “Oh, you’re adorable. I’ll tell you what—would you like me to tell you a secret?”

Mary looked up at them, and finally felt _something_ inside her, and she hated it.

It was dread, crawling up her throat in an ugly feeling that burned like bile.

They smiled down at her, and leaned into her personal space.

“Carlton Drake was the reason your father died.”

Mary’s heart stopped in her chest.

“Wh-what?” She breathed, and they pulled back, chuckling.

“You didn’t hear?” Lotus cocked their head, and Mary gaped at them. “It wasn’t your prototype biopatch that killed him. Even the prototype worked like a charm right off the bat, and that was what drew Drake to you.” They clapped their hands together in front of them, and chuckled. “You were a brilliant child, just a little too tightly tied down. So Life Foundation gave them a Belladonna—” They paused, looking surprised for a moment, before chuckling, “Apologies, an _Atropine_ special.”

Mary’s eyes welled with tears. “You… you _gave_ it to Mister Drake?”

“Oh, yes, he asked for it.” Lotus nodded. “Something part of our exchange with the biopatch program. He wanted to demonstrate its efficacy to me.”

“And you…” Mary’s voice wavered. “Used my dad.”

“Yes.” They smiled, “So Mr. Drake could replace him in your life. An old, dying scientist versus a successful one making millions? Who wouldn’t want that kind of replacement, hm?”

Mary shook. “You’re… monsters.”

“All in pursuit of knowledge.” Lotus shrugged, and smiled down at her. “Now, look over there.”

Mary turned her head to the side to see the little mason jar— _Eddie and Venom’s baby—_ being lifted off the ground and into a terrifyingly familiar container.

“Mr. Drake had been generous enough to allow us possession of these storage and deployment containers after the fall of Life Foundation, I’m sure you recognise them?” They gestured at the container as Mary looked down at them again. “And now, our in-house Symbiote containment units are finally of use.”

Lotus’s scientists loaded the baby into the container, and Mary’s eyes widened to see it slide inside, not big enough to cover the whole thing like how Venom and the other Symbiotes did.

It was just a baby, she thought bitterly.

Hell, _she_ was just a kid, too, in the end. Barely knew who she was, what she fought for, and now she was going to die here. Die alongside a lost baby alien, who just wanted to find its fathers again.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

_I’m sorry, Mister Brock._ She thought. _There’s so much I wanted to tell you, but now…_

“I’m sure you’ve seen the footage of human testing with the Symbiotes.” Lotus said coolly, and only then did Mary realise that they were inside a containment chamber not unlike the testing chambers back in Life Foundation. Mary’s blood turned to ice.

“You—” She began, and panic began to seep into her blood as adrenaline made her squirm and struggle against her bonds. “No— _no!_ ”

“Now, let’s see how you take to this wonderful little Symbiote—” they began, but then a powerful, tremulous _roar_ ripped through the air, but Lotus only looked up in mild interest.

“On second thought,” they smirked slowly, “Why don’t we have a family reunion first?”

Mary’s eyes widened. “Mister… Brock.” She breathed, and Lotus clapped their hands. The scientists filed out of the containment chamber, and Mary looked around, fearful.

“W-wait! Hold on! Lotus, you said—”

“What, you’re not Mr. Brock’s daughter.” They leered at her, standing at the doorway out of the containment chamber. “The Symbiote is.” They gave her a little mocking wave. “Wake up, little girl. You’ve lost your father. There is no one left here to save you.”

They stepped out of the containment chamber, the door hissing shut before clicking, signifying it had been locked.

“I—” Mary’s eyes welled with tears, and she screamed when she heard something hiss above her head. She struggled to look up, shaking as the Symbiote containment unit slid open. She squeezed her eyes shut, as her heart thudded in her ears.

_“I can only hope that it didn’t hurt.”_ She’d said to Eddie, at a time that felt so long ago. Now there she was, facing down the same barrel Skirth faced down a long time ago, and she felt like crying.

Even in death, she supposed, she would be emulating her idol.

She kept her eyes shut, holding her breath in fear, but then when nothing happened after a long time, she couldn’t help but take a deep breath, fearing the worst—

When nothing happened.

“ _Oh, how sweet._ ” Lotus drawled over the intercom. “ _The Symbiote refuses to mutualise with you._ ”

Mary’s eyes shot open at that, and she looked above her to realise that the little baby Symbiote was indeed still in the containment unit, shivering as it squeezed itself right up to the side, and slowly but surely—painfully _visibly—_ dying.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. It refused to go in her, more willing to _die_ than to kill her, and her heart broke for it.

“Baby!” She called, her voice surprisingly solid. “Just—just get in me! Please!”

It refused to move.

“You’ll make Mister Brock and Venom sad if you die!” Mary knew she was breaking down, her tears were unstoppable now, and her voice frayed at the edges as desperation stretched it tight over her clogged throat. Her heart was blocking the way of her breathing, and she could hear it thundering in her ears, but she persevered. “Please, just—just use my body for now, I’m sorry if I can’t last very long, but you, baby, you _have_ to stay alive! You’re going to _die_ if you stay there!”

It didn’t move, god, _why_ did it refuse to _move?_

“Just _kill me already!_ ” She screamed, “I deserve this— _you don’t!_ ”

Suddenly there was a commotion beyond the containment chamber, and the floor beneath her inside the chamber fell open, dropping her and the Symbiote down to the floor below.

Not that she noticed, she hardly noticed, her bindings falling apart to let her reach for the Symbiote that went flying towards her, and she took it into her hands before dropping into the darkness of the chasm beneath them.

* * *

Venom rushed up the side of the building, angry claws smashing into windows as they hauled themselves up the building to the skylight. Even Eddie didn’t complain about the height, both focused on getting Mary and their baby back. They hauled themselves up onto the roof, and with a mighty roar, crashed down into the top floor through the massive skylight, sending glass flying everywhere as they landed heavily on the ground.

Lotus remained infuriatingly impeccable, standing in the middle of a field of broken glass, and smirked at them.

“Perfect timing.” They said, pointing at something behind them, and Venom jolted, whirling around to see a familiar containment room—

And then it fell down through a hole made in the floor, bringing with it Mary, who stretched her arms out towards something.

Much to their horror, it was their baby, sliding into Mary’s hands before they fell through the floor—

Out and exposed to the air.

Their baby was _dying._

Venom made a move to charge at them, seeing red—when suddenly three more anti-Symbiote spears pointed at them, all carried by three other guards Lotus had with them.

“You’ve made it past Rosa,” they said, “Surely you know what these are.”

“ ** _Get the fuck out of our way._** ” Venom hissed, and Lotus’s smile widened.

“Fascinating, isn’t it, that you can fight a Symbiote without even touching it?” They continued, as if they hadn’t spoken. “Weak to high frequencies, to fire. Perhaps this was nature’s way of giving humanity a chance to fight against these squirming little _parasites._ ”

_They’re riling us up,_ Eddie said, though he didn’t need to, not when Venom still remained so eerily calm.

“Oh, I say parasites, and yet think of all the applications one can apply to Symbiote technology.” Lotus took a step back easily over broken glass, and when Venom made a move to follow them to bridge the gap, the spears moved close to them again, holding them back. Venom hissed angrily, but held still. “Many of humanity’s greatest technologies today came from some of the greatest pathogens in the world—gene editing, from the bacteria from flesh-eating disease. For all the horror and pain bioweapons can bring to the world, it can also bring it to salvation.”

They turned to look at the chasm left by the containment chamber, and raised their arms.

“Doesn’t that sound marvellous?”

“ ** _You’re a megalomaniac._** ” Venom spat at them, “ ** _You’re just like Drake._** ”

Lotus laughed daintily, a lovely little laugh behind a slim wrist.

“They say great minds think alike.” they replied, and jumped down after Mary and the baby. Venom lurched forward, but they were stopped by the guards. Growling, they whirled around and took in how many people were around them—just the three, but they had to be careful.

One of the guards swung at them, and Venom quickly darted out of the way, shooting their arm forward to grab one of the guards by the midsection before quickly flinging him into another guard, sending the both of them crashing into the wall. They pulled it back after the third one still standing spun their staff to interrupt them, but Venom jumped away, hissing angrily as another arm shot up to destroy all the lights around the area.

“Hey! Where’d—where’d it go?”

It was by sheer dumb luck the sky above them was cloudy. The moonlight was obscured from view, and Venom wasted no time picking them off—

The baby was more important, after all, and they dove down into the pit under the cover of the night.

* * *

Mary groaned softly, getting up to the feeling of throbbing, _painful_ fire shooting up her leg. She jolted, and looked down to see her leg bent at an odd angle, and she bit back a scream.

Oh, god. She’d broken her leg. The pain, at least, was numb by now, but by _god_ it was horrifying seeing it like _that._ She wasn’t even sure if she was going to make it out of there like this. Mary looked around herself, and realised that she was in another one of those nondescript office rooms, and she sighed.

Then came the next problem, and she looked down at her hands to find the Symbiote baby gone. Her eyes widened, and she whirled around, trying to find it—but then her heart sank when a man in Kevlar gear—another Atropine mook—opened the door and spotted her. His eyes widened, but he quickly recovered, striding towards her with a gun to her head.

“She’s over here,” He called over his shoulder, keeping his gun trained on her. “Alright, kid, no funny business.”

“I have a broken leg,” she deadpanned, but that was all she managed when something dark darted out from behind her, quickly sliding in underneath the gaps in the man’s gear, seeping through his clothes and into his skin. Mary gasped, pulling back and feeling her leg twinge, but she couldn’t do anything, simply watched as the man jolted back, moving away from her with a haunting scream as his body shuddered once, twice—

And a fearful sight flashed across Mary’s eyes again—Eddie, squirming and screaming as he took in a Symbiote, fire burning under his skin as he quickly began _dying—_

“No,” she breathed, “No, Mister Brock—he’s fine. He’s… not dead.”

No, he was better than ever before, she knew, and he shone like a star with the darkness of a Symbiote wrapped around him.

The man in front of her dropped like a stone, suddenly going still, but there was no fear in Mary’s heart when a little bluish-grey blob peered out from under his clothes.

“Baby,” she breathed, and that was all she managed when three more men came running in. Her eyes widened, and she held out her hand at them to stop. “Wait! No! Don’t come in here!”

They ignored her, rushing into the room single-file, funneled by the doorway, and the Symbiote leapt from the dead man to kill the next three people who tried approaching them. Mary squeaked, covering her eyes in horror as she could hear the Symbiote tearing them apart, feasting on their organs, until everything fell still.

She jumped, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see a dead-eyed man leaning down at her, holding his hand out at her.

Mary screamed, writhing away from him, but her leg flared up painfully again, and she let out a sob, falling still again as pain froze her into place.

No, this was too much—she was going insane—

“ ** _Bond with me._** ” She jumped at the sound of the Symbiote’s voice coming from the man’s unmoving, agape mouth, and Mary looked up at it.

“I—I—” Mary looked positively _terrified,_ and rightfully so—she _saw_ what that Symbiote spawn did to that guard. The other men in the room. “I could _die._ ”

He considered her for a moment, and the body slumped down as the Symbiote slid out from under his skin, looking up at her with a head-like bulge that cocked to the side curiously.

It wound a little tendril around her wrist, and Mary flinched—but then she heard its voice in her head.

**_My name is Sleeper. I won’t hurt you._ **

“You—you won’t know that,” she stammered, watching the Symbiote squirm on the floor. “You wouldn’t know if we’re compatible. I could—I could _die._ ”

**_Not too long ago you were willing to die to save me._ ** Sleeper said, and she froze. **_I know you don’t lie, Mary. You’ve never lied to me yet._ **

“You don’t know that.” She mumbled bitterly, and wiped at her eyes as she deflated. “I just—I had wanted to—”

**_We want to save them. That’s enough._ **

Mary looked at it, and it nodded encouragingly.

“Well— _yes,_ I’d like to make sure Mister Brock’s okay. Lotus has anti-Symbiote weapons and who knows what they could do with Mister Brock and Venom.” she stammered, “And—and, um, I’d like to at least get you out of here? I don’t know.”

**_They’re your parents, too._ ** Sleeper said innocently, and she blinked down at it. **_You want a father, right? So do I._ **

Mary froze. “I…”

**_Our dads. We have to save them._ ** It extended a small tendril of a blob towards her. **_Please._ **

Mary bit her lip, and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Sleeper, I don’t think I can.” She said, “My leg, it’s broken. And—and—”

**_Big Sis,_ ** Sleeper said, and Mary’s eyes shot open as she gaped at the Symbiote in front of her. **_Since the start, it’s been you and me. I can take care of you, and you can take care of me._ **

They leaned up higher, and pressed their foreheads together.

**_We want to be with them. Our parents. I know what you’re feeling, what you’re thinking. I know. We know it’s not our fault._ ** It said softly. **_Let us have this._ **

Big sis, it said. Mary’s heart swelled with affection, and she laughed softly, nodding against where their foreheads touched.

“Thanks for forgiving me.” She muttered. “You’re… you’re right. This isn’t our fault.”

**_No, but we will set things right anyway. For our parents._ **

“For Venom and Mister Brock.” she nodded, and shut her eyes as Sleeper wrapped itself around her.

* * *

Venom landed heavily on the ground with a roar just in time to get hit in the side with an anti-Symbiote staff, screeching in pain as Venom was suddenly torn away from Eddie. The man’s eyes widened as he reached out for his Symbiote, only to get flung back away from him as Lotus rammed the back of the staff into his midsection.

He slammed against the wall, choking slightly as Lotus quickly turned back to Venom, grinning darkly as they herded him backwards, further and further—until Venom felt himself backing up into a Symbiote containment unit. Hissing angrily, he launched forward at them, but Lotus dodged to the side easily, smacking Venom with the activated side of the staff.

Venom screeched, dropping to the ground in a goopy, weakly writhing heap, and Eddie jumped, forcing himself onto his feet to head towards them when Lotus pulled a tiny handgun from a holster strapped to their thigh. They cocked it easily, and turned it to point at Eddie, halting him in his tracks.

The man froze, his hands raising defensively, and Lotus smirked at him.

“You know what,” they said, “What if I just get rid of the two of you little _pests_ from this garden of mine?” They cocked their head at him, leering, and much to Eddie’s shock, shoved the active head of the staff into Venom. The Symbiote screamed, shuddering as he tried to slither away from the staff, but Lotus kicked him back into place to stab him again.

“It is a great shame, yes,” Lotus continued, their smirk widening at the sight of Eddie’s shock at Venom’s torture, “It would have been wonderful to extract the technology I needed from the Venom symbiote, but I suppose your spawn will have to do.”

“Don’t you _fucking_ lay a hand on our baby.” Eddie snapped, and Lotus laughed at him.

“Says who?” They jeered, and suddenly the sound of a gun cocking was much louder than any sound in the room they were in.

“Says me,” Mandrake said, carefully stepping into the room with his gun held up at Lotus. “Whatever it was that Mr. Brock said.”

Lotus scoffed. “You never listened to what you’re told to do.”

“And you never keep your promises.” Mandrake’s grip was steady on the gun. “Or I’m going to shoot you, I swear.”

“Go ahead.” Lotus replied, spreading their arms, and Mandrake’s eyes widened. “Can you do it? Can you take a life, John?”

Mandrake hesitated, and Lotus’s smirk widened—

When a huge, hulking creature came bursting out from the room next door, and Eddie couldn’t understand why he suddenly felt so relieved—more relieved than he ever felt before, despite the fact he was staring down Venom pinned down by an anti-Symbiote staff. Lotus was knocked back by debris with a shout, and Mandrake jumped aside, yelling in alarm. He almost slammed into Eddie, who dodged him easily to scoop up Venom into his arms, sighing in relief as he felt his Symbiote melt back into his skin. The assailant threw Lotus out the window, and finally held still long enough to let Eddie and Mandrake see who it was—

A tall, hulking alien stood in front of them, standing a good head and a half taller than both Eddie and Mandrake, with four red slits for eyes, and green hands. It had greenish highlights along the chest, making a line upwards towards the nape before joining in a widow’s peak above the forehead, and the two men gaped at it.

“Is that…” Mandrake breathed, and Eddie’s eyes widened.

“A Symbiote.” He breathed.

**_Eddie, it’s our child. I can hear it calling for us._ ** Venom sounded winded—weak, almost, and Eddie’s chest ached for him. Still, he stepped forward, reaching out for the bonded Symbiote cautiously, holding up his hand for it to take.

“Hey, buddy,” he said softly, “It’s us. Your dads.”

“ ** _We’ve always wanted to meet you like this._** ” It replied, reaching forward to lace their fingers together, and Eddie’s expression softened when he saw Venom’s tendrils snake out of his skin to tangle with the Symbiote and Eddie’s intertwined fingers. “ ** _We are Sleeper._** ”

“Sleeper.” Eddie echoed, and smiled lopsidedly. “God, you look amazing.”

Sleeper bowed their head sheepishly, and the man chuckled fondly.

“C’mon, kid, put ‘er here.” He said, spreading his arms, and Sleeper bent over to hug him tightly. Eddie laughed fondly, hugging them back warmly as Sleeper buried their face into the crook of his neck as best as he could, and soon his laughter dissolved into a sigh as he leaned into their embrace as well.

“It’s so nice to finally see you like this.” He murmured, “We’ve always wanted to see you too.”

“ ** _We love you._** ” Sleeper said, “ ** _Thank you for coming back for us._** ”

“Yeah, no, we weren’t just gonna _leave_ you here.” He said, stroking their back. “Venom and I would tear the whole of San Francisco apart if it mean we could find you.”

“ ** _So would we._** ” Sleeper replied, and melted away to leave a much smaller body behind, still wrapped up in a tight hug in Eddie’s arms.

“We would’ve done everything we could to find you again.” Mary said, and Eddie pulled away from her to gape at her, his hands squeezing her shoulders. Her cheeks were pink, and she looked away from him, rubbing her arm awkwardly. “Um, hi. Mister Brock.”

“Mary.” Eddie sighed in relief, and hugged her again. She hesitated for a moment, and hugged him back tightly, letting out a small sob of relief as she did. “Thank _god,_ kid, you’re alright.”

“I’m alright.” She said shakily, and pulled away from him to smile past the tears that rolled down her face. Eddie shook his head, and wiped at her face with his hand, and the young woman laughed. “Sorry. I just—I broke my leg in the fall and Sleeper helped fix it when he mutualised with me.” She explained, and looked out the window. “We threw Lotus out of the window. Is it—is it over?”

“I hope so.” Eddie sighed, and cupped her face in his hands. “Damn, I can’t really believe how relieved I am to see you’re okay, Mary.”

Mary smiled softly at that, and hugged him. “Me too, Mister Brock.”

“Um,” Mandrake said awkwardly, and then pursed his lips of his own volition. Eddie looked over at him, and then down at Mary, who was wearing the top of Sleeper like a hoodie.

“Did you do that?” He asked, and Mary nodded their head.

“ ** _We can secrete pheromones that confuse the senses._** ” They explained, “ ** _It means we can control the people in our environment as we wish, such as shutting awkward interruptions up._** ”

“That’s rude.” Mandrake said pointedly, and shut himself up again.

Sleeper and Mary cocked their head at him, and turned back to Eddie. The man laughed softly, and shook his head.

“Kids.” He huffed fondly, and Venom slid out from under Eddie’s skin to appear as a head next to Eddie. “I really wanna say it’s over and we should all go home, but if there’s anything Lotus has proven to be, it’s that they’re as resilient as a goddamn cockroach.”

“Gross like one, too.” Mary said, and Sleeper imitated its parent, appearing outside of Mary to appear as a head next to her. She looked at it, and it cocked its head at her.

“ ** _We can still smell them. Lotus is still alive._** ”

“God _damn_ it.” Mandrake swore, and she turned to finally look at him. He jumped when her eyes met his, and he shifted uncomfortably when realization dawned on her face.

“Wait, you’re the Mandrake guy Mister Brock’s been talking about, right?” She asked, and Mandrake nodded nervously.

“Just, um. Call me John.” He said awkwardly. “Pretty sure we’re just the same age.”

“Why do you look like Bryan Dechart?” Mary asked, and Mandrake’s cheeks went red.

“Wh-why do people keep asking me that?” He spluttered, and Eddie winced.

“Okay, kids, break it up,” He said, and Mary and Mandrake pursed their lips petulantly. “We’ve gotta get out of here first. You can fangirl later, Mary.”

“R-right.” She stammered, and looked out the window. “Sleeper?”

It wrapped around her and they were back in their fused form, standing just a little shy of how tall Venom and Eddie were when they were fused together.

“Smell anything?” Eddie asked, and they paused.

“ ** _Wait._** ” They breathed, and whirled around. “ ** _John—_** ”

Mandrake only managed to open his mouth to ask what was wrong, when the ground underneath him crumbled. Eddie’s eyes widened and immediately Venom wrapped around him, leaping forward, Mary and Sleeper in tow to follow after him into the floor below.

Venom shot their arm forward to catch Mandrake before he landed, both bonded Symbiotes landing hard on the ground inside a conference room—

But then that awful, _painful_ ringing sound shot through the air like a hot knife through butter, and Venom and Sleeper shot out of their hosts, dropping Mary and Eddie to the ground the rest of the way as the Symbiotes squirmed and writhed, screeching in pain. Eddie hurriedly got up onto his feet, whirling around just in time to see Lotus swinging at him with that anti-Symbiote staff again, and quickly he managed to get out of the way as he pulled Mary with him. Lotus was quick to recover, pulling out a handgun from their suit pocket, and Mary’s eyes widened in shock as she saw it first.

“Mister Brock!”

She yanked him out of the way with all her strength as Lotus fired, leering triumphantly as they jabbed the anti-Symbiote staff down into the writhing pair of Symbiotes. Pitch black swarmed over bluish grey, and Venom’s ear-splitting howl of pain rocked through the still air of the empty floor.

Eddie’s heart stopped in his chest—Venom, wrapping himself around Sleeper to protect it from the staff.

Mary, dropping like a stone to the ground.

“Much better.” Lotus sighed, lowering their gun, when another shot fired off, right on their palm. They let out a shout of alarm, the staff dropping to the ground to stop its torment of the Symbiotes, and Venom yanked Sleeper along with him to dart into Eddie’s body, the man quickly smacking Lotus aside with one of Venom’s arms. Lotus flew into the wall, but they landed on it with grace despite their bleeding hand, and fired at Eddie with their gun again.

Quickly he blocked the bullets, and Venom wrapped around him as Lotus produced another staff from under their coat, pressing a button on it to make it expand.

“Bothersome little weed,” They spat, aiming at somewhere behind Eddie, and he didn’t have to turn around to see that Mandrake had landed the shot on Lotus’s hand. “I should have killed you first, John, shouldn’t I?”

“You know you couldn’t. You were always the more sentimental one.” Mandrake replied dryly, and then he winced.

Sleeper let Eddie know Mandrake’s leg was broken in his fall. He clicked his tongue inside Venom, and moved to shield Mandrake from Lotus.

“Of course I would be.” Lotus huffed. “I love you.”

Mandrake hesitated at that, and Lotus leered, jumping to the side to fire at him, and Venom only had a moment to block the shot. Behind him Mandrake laughed dryly, and he shook his head.

“You say the _weirdest_ shit just to get what you want.” He said. “Mr. Brock, Mary—”

“ ** _We know._** ” Venom hissed, and whirled around to face Lotus. “ ** _It’s us versus you, Lotus. Give up or die._** ”

“Then I would gladly choose the latter.” They twirled their staff in their only good hand, “Let’s see you faring against my little gadgets, parasites.”

Venom snarled at them, and charged forward, shooting forward an arm with all the intention to stab them through, but Lotus smacked it aside with the active part of the staff, earning them a roar of pain from the Symbiote, but they kept moving forward. Lotus met them head-on, grinning widely as they suddenly sidestepped them, and Venom’s eyes widened when he realised they moved onward straight at Mandrake, handgun at the ready.

_You say the weirdest shit just to get what you want,_ Mandrake had said. Lotus had no intention of facing Venom.

Venom quickly whirled around, while Lotus’s back was turned, and shot forward their arm to stop Lotus—

When Mandrake held up his gun at Lotus, determinedly staring them down.

“In the next life,” they said, and much to their shock, turned their gun to their head—

“I’m not going to let you!” Mandrake threw his gun at them, knocking their handgun out of their hand as Venom’s arm reached them, stabbing them through their solar plexus. The young man’s eyes widened, as Lotus slumped forward, laughing tiredly as they took hold of Mandrake’s hands.

“A downright shame,” they said hoarsely, and turned to leer at Venom. “A downright _shame._ ”

They reached into their coat and pressed down on something on their skin, and that screeching sound was back, tearing to tear the Symbiotes attached to Eddie apart.

“ _Fuck!_ ” Mandrake swore, and fumbled for the switch in Lotus’s clothes to find it. “ _Where is it?_ ”

“It’s a biopatch, sweetheart.” They murmured, leaning against him with a derisive laugh. “And now it’s gone. These Symbiotes were _ours,_ and now they belong to no one.”

“ ** _Shut the hell up!_** ” Venom and Sleeper snarled through Eddie’s mouth, and twin pairs of spear-like arms shot out of them, stabbing through every single piece of equipment in the room. The sound stopped, and Mandrake heaved a sigh of relief.

Lotus looked up at them over their shoulder, and smiled despite the blood trickling out of their mouth.

“Marvellous…” they murmured, “What a miracle of nature… Symbiotes.”

Their eyes slid shut and they slumped over Mandrake, who took a sharp breath as Venom’s spear-arm slid out of their body.

“Mr. Brock,” he managed weakly, but Venom strode past him, ignoring him for a moment to head to Mary’s side, gingerly picking her limp form up off the ground. Mandrake immediately shoved Lotus aside, ignoring the screaming pain in his leg to watch Venom turn Mary over, and Mandrake’s expression fell when he saw the bullet wound in her solar plexus.

Her eyes were closed, and she was deathly still.

“No way…” Mandrake breathed, as Venom unwrapped himself from around Eddie to look at his host.

**_Eddie._ **

“You did it before, right?” He muttered, gingerly holding Mary in his hands as he knelt down on the ground. “You can do it again.”

Venom pressed his forehead against Eddie’s wordlessly, and slid out from Eddie’s body into Mary’s. Sleeper slid out from under his father’s skin to watch them helplessly, meekly clinging to Eddie’s neck like a scarf as Venom melted into Mary’s body, and for a moment, everyone held their breaths—

And Venom wrapped around Mary as a suit, slowly getting up to look at Eddie. He looked up at them, wide eyed, and Venom held their hands out. Eddie mirrored their movement, holding his hands side by side, palms-up, and Venom spat out something into his hands.

Eddie and Sleeper jerked back in alarm, the man letting out a shout of protest, when he realised what it was.

A single bullet, slightly bloodied, slightly chipped and broken.

His eyes widened, lighting up as Venom unwrapped himself from around Mary, sliding back into Eddie’s body as Sleeper shot forward to wrap itself around the young woman, who dropped to the ground again, unconscious.

“Mary!” Eddie gasped, picking her up again, holding her in his arms as he brushed her hair aside, watching in worry as Sleeper slid around under her skin, reacquainting itself with her body, until slowly, Mary opened her eyes, blinking blearily up at Eddie.

“Mister… Brock?” She muttered, “I thought… I was…”

“Oh, kid.” he breathed, hugging her close, and Venom wrapped around the both of them as Sleeper did the same, pulling the four of them close together. “You _stupid,_ stupid kid. Don’t _ever_ scare me like that ever again.”

Mary laughed breathlessly, and hugged him back.

“I’m sorry, dad.” She said without thinking. “Is it… is it over?”

“Think so.” Eddie nodded, and looked over at Mandrake. “You alright there, kid?”

“D-do you think you could do that magic Symbiote thing on my leg too?” He asked, and the two of them laughed softly.

“He’s okay.” Eddie said, and Mary huffed fondly.

“What about Belladonna?” She asked him, and he shrugged.

“Not really my job to go shooting people down and throwing them into the slammer,” He said, “But I think I’ve at least got enough stuff to get further investigations started.”

There will be others. Boardroom executives, lower-level hatchet men.

“The Network’s gonna have my ass for chasing after dead people again, though, that’s for sure.” Eddie huffed, and Mary giggled.

“Well, they’ll just have to deal with it.” She said, and sighed, leaning into his side. “Thanks for everything, Mister Brock. Really.”

He rubbed her arm affectionately, humming.

“Thank you too, Mary.” He said, and patted her arm. “C’mon, let’s get Mandrake patched up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uuu sleeper... is a good kid...

**Author's Note:**

> 50k of symbrock? let's get that bread, monsterfuckers


End file.
